


How to be a parent; a guide by the saviour and her pirate

by yesiamanowl



Series: The children of Storybrooke [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Baby Henry, Baby Regina, Captain Swan - Freeform, Daddy!Killian, F/M, Killian is better with children than anyone really knew, and Killian and Emma have to look after them, and new friendships are made, baby charming - Freeform, baby snow, their all kids again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-07 00:09:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 39,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4241955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yesiamanowl/pseuds/yesiamanowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In revenge for what Snow and David did to her child, Maleficent turns Snow, David, Regina and Henry into toddlers- meaning that Killian and Emma have to look after them, Baby Neal AND the rest of Storybrooke. In order to look after the excitable children they must make unlikely friends, and ask questions they never thought they would be asking; as well as finding more about each other than ever before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A big (yet tiny) surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So now that my last stories are over I can now concentrate on some much needed fluff for us to deal with the Hiatus with! Sorry for shortness of this one, but I promise they will get longer. I am hoping to have a more regular schedule with this one, so kick back, and enjoy the show!

** Charming **

“I don’t care” Emma said as she stormed out of the loft; the revelation of her parents weighing heavily on her mind.

“It might be best if you two stay here. I’ll talk to Emma” Killian said to Snow

“But…”

“Let him go Snow” I said, with more calm in his voice than I was actually feeling. I held Snow close as we watched Hook go after Emma. Even though he had not said it, I could see that he was afraid for Emma; but that wasn’t all that was in his eyes. It almost looked like…. Hurt, or even betrayal- for what I could only imagine why. Perhaps it was because we had broken Emma’s trust, or perhaps it was something that we would never know. All I knew was that it had felt that I had lost everything all in one fell swoop. Emma. My only friend. Even Snow was trying to get out of my arms. My heart filled with guilt as I let go of Snow and went towards the kitchenette to get a drink- something strong to deal with what we had just told Emma.

I could understand her anger- I just prayed that this hadn’t pushed her away from us forever.

“Well, well, well. The Charming’s have finally lost everything, although; not everyone one I want is here” Maleficent had formed in the middle of the loft, looking around, but mainly keeping Snow within her eyesight. With a twirl of her hand Regina, Henry and baby Neal were all dropped into the room, their eyes confused and shocked as they saw who had brought them all here. Henry tried to move towards the door but the dragon witch froze everyone in position, stopping us from moving around. “Now that you are all here- I can get all of you out of my way. I would say enjoy yourselves, but when I’m finished with you, you won’t even remember who anyone else here”

With a click of her fingers we were all released from our paralysis, but instantly I felt as if I was being compressed, and the entire world was falling on me, the weight pushing me down- before it all went dark.

** Killian Jones **

I left the loft in a state of shock and disappointment. I had thought that Dave and the Lady Snow were better than my own parents; but instead they had kept something this big from Emma just as mine had kept the secret of my origin from me. On reaching the dark street, I allowed the slight chill of the wind to calm my thoughts.

I knew the place that Emma would have wandered to, but I decided to gather a couple of items from Granny’s first to take back to the Jolly Rodger to allow Emma some time to her thoughts. Granny gave me a hot cocoa with cinnamon to give to Emma, almost sensing that Emma would need something to comfort her. The old wolf gave me a friendly smile as I went back into the night air, telling me to tell Emma that if she wanted a room they would happily let her have one. I smiled in my thanks to her and swiftly found Emma on the docks; just where I had thought she would be.

Her words were quiet as we talked, and I delivered her Granny’s drink, only then did a ghost of a smile form on her beautiful lips. I had led her onto the Jolly Rodger when her phone went off and Henry’s face filled the screen.

“Hey Henry what’s up?”

All that could be heard down the line was babbling, and what sounded to be the quiet voices of… small children?

“What is going on?” Emma asked, barely glancing at me as I grabbed a blanket for her out of one of the trunks that filled my ship.

“I don’t know, but I suggest we go back to the loft and see what’s happened love” I spoke softly as I reached the end of my suggestion, but Emma looked disgusted, and slightly confused.

“Just a gut feeling. If you want I can check there and see if anything is up and if something has happened I’ll give you a call”

The walk towards the loft seemed longer than usual; but even I could sense the magic as I got closer to that fateful door. Upon opening the door, I was greeted with a very peculiar sight.

“Emma? You need to get over here. Right. Now.”


	2. Children?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my little Owls! Here's some more fluff for you to survive the Hiatus with! This story is going to have more of a schedule; coming out each Saturday and Wednesday!

As I opened the door, I was greeted by a very odd sight. Where just an hour before I had left David and Snow, were four small children and the baby prince, most of which were crying whilst one had stuffed her head underneath a cushion in a vain attempt to block out all the noise. But it wasn't this that had the fearless pirate captain confused. It was for the fact that each of the toddlers were dressed the same as Emma's parents, Regina and Henry; whilst the young prince didn't look any different.

After I called Emma, I went into the loft itself, and instantly, silence fell. Each tiny face had turned to me, each as scared as the other. What I guessed was a younger Regina backed away slowly, whilst Henry stepped forward and tried to grab my hook.

"Careful there lad, you don't want to cut yourself now" I called softly as the young Swan started to investigate my brace. I looked towards the others, who were now starting to come over to me after seeing that I wasn't hurting Henry, and that I wasn't going to hurt them either.

"Can any of you tell me where you come from? Or perhaps what you remember?"

David stepped forward slightly, saying all he remembered was waiting up for his father with his mother as he had gone away to market. Regina said she remembered her father tucking her into bed, whilst Snow said something similar about her mother. Henry was the only one who hadn't said anything yet, but then I recalled Regina and Emma saying that he had been late to start talking, but when he did start talking, he wouldn't stop.

I carefully sat down onto the floor and picked up Neal as I went down, allowing all the children to climb over me, with Snow and Regina curling up on one side with Henry and David settling down on the other. I was still awaiting for Emma to arrive and aid me with these small beings; but she had as of yet not arrived. I had been surprised at how quickly they had fallen asleep, leaving only the small prince still awake. His tiny eyes searching my face, but never did he cry.

Emma came in half an hour after I called her, but by this time all the children were asleep. The shock of seeing everyone as small children was evident on her face, but I raised my hook and motioned for her to stay silent.

_What's going on here?_

"From what I've gathered someone has cursed them into being kids again. How are you with kids love?" I whispered quietly, handing Emma her sleeping brother.

"Not as good as you apparently. I could never get him to sleep" I could see Emma was trying desperately to avoid the subject of her parents lying to her then promptly being turned into children. Not that I could blame her of course; she hadn't wanted to see her parents at all after this evening, yet here she was, being forced to care for them. It would be enough to send someone crazy.

"Once you've put him to sleep do you mind helping me get this lot into positions that aren't on me; and preferably in beds" Emma simply smiled in response, walking away with her brother nestled into her arms. By my side I could feel Henry start to squirm and thrash around as if he were having a nightmare in the red room. I gently leant over to him and shook him awake, his bright brown eyes full of fear and fright.

"Shh Henry, shh. It's alright, your safe now, it was just a nightmare. I've got you now. Are you ready to get back to sleep?" Emma had already picked up Regina by the time Henry responded with a small shake of his head.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" Emma asked him, but as I began to stand up, I noticed that his hands were still grabbing my jacket very tightly. "Would you like Killian to tell you a story?" Emma asked her son quietly, almost in disbelief. Henry gave a small nod in response to Emma's question, surprising me as I would have thought that Henry would've wanted his mother to read him a story- but then I realised that he probably still thought that Regina was his mother, so either way this would be a strange experience.

I noticed Emma glancing down to my hook, with something that almost resembled understanding

"I believe that he knows that you're Captain Hook" Emma said with a quiet smile. I thought back to when Emma and Henry had shown me one of their "Movies" that had involved Pan and I. Despite his age, he would've seen that and I knew what story I had to tell.

"Would you like me to tell you on how I became a pirate?" Henry's smile finale reached his eyes, and he began to nod his head very quickly.

"Well then…. It all began nearly four hundred years ago, when my brother and I were serving and a Captain and Lieutenant in King Uther's navy, in the land of Camelot. The kingdom was at war, and the king wanted a way to help his men- or end the war. And after some research he discovered a plant which would aid him in his endeavours; Dreamshade. My brother had recently been given a ship of his own by the King himself; made from enchanted wood it was the fastest ship in all the realms- and it was this ship and Captain that Uther wished to retrieve him the Dreamshade."

As I told my tale, I could see Henry's eye's drooping down finally, giving into the sleep he deserved. I slowly picked myself and Henry up off the floor, his tiny body feeling almost weightless in my arms; so delicate and frail yet strong and robust. Emma had pulled back the covers on her parent's bed and David was already inside; Snow and Regina soundly asleep in Emma's bed upstairs. On placing Henry down the lad began to stir, his small eye's finding mine, asking me to keep telling him my story.

"More adventures tomorrow little lad; but for now- sleep. <May the stars protect you in your sleep>" The Latin rolling off my tongue, surprising both Emma and I- but neither of us said anything about it till we left the sleeping princes.

"What was that back there? It sounded almost like Latin"

"Well…. I guess you could say it was my land's version of it. I guess in my confusion about all of them turning into small children it made me speak my natural tongue- something I haven't done since before I landed in the enchanted forest."

"You're not from the enchanted forest?"

"Not originally no. But perhaps we could talk about this at a godlier hour after we've had some sleep and time to figure out what to do about our situation?"

Emma stilled for a moment, her eye's searching me for an answer that I didn't know. The seconds passed, and it felt like hours, like everything I had done to gain her trust was for nothing, but finally, she agreed.


	3. The morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey little owls! Thankfully I have been able to get my head around having this timetabled; so each Wednesday and Saturday shall provide you with Fluff!

** Emma Swan **

To say the last few hours had been…. A unique experience was an understatement. I didn’t even want to see my parents again after what they had told me about Maleficent’s child- and now someone had gone and cursed them, Henry and the only person in Storybrooke she could trust with magic into small children.

Seeing Henry that small again was… amazing, yet painful all at the same time. I wanted to scoop him up and hold him tight like I had done in the fake memories, but at the same time I could remember that I had never looked after an infant before so this was something that I almost knew I wasn’t ready for. Killian on the hand, had been nothing but full of surprises. He knew how to get young kids to trust him and then fall asleep on him (??), and then there was the part when he seamlessly broke into fluent Latin only to say that that was his first language and he wasn’t from the enchanted forest at all. Not exactly things you would expect from Captain Hook at all.

He had suggested that we got some sleep before we asked, answered and dealt with some more questions about the situation that we had managed to land ourselves into. Turning over on the small couch at the loft, I could see Killian asleep on the floor, his face more peaceful and almost younger than I had ever seen it before. His chest rose gently, his hand occasionally twitching in whatever dream he was having. Lucky for some; for I couldn’t sleep after all the revelations that had happened within the past three hours.

Sitting up silently as I could, I glanced over to where Henry and David were sleeping. After Killian’s story, Henry had fallen straight asleep; and David? Well whatever magic had happened there had drained whatever energy any of them had and made it so that they all fell asleep faster than either Killian or I expected. I had barely moved when Killian spoke.

“What’s wrong Emma? Can’t sleep?” Even though he was barely conscious, the worry was still evident.

“I guess that this is all a bit too much for me at the minute”

Killian looked down, deep in thought, his crystal blue eyes staring intently at the floor.

“Well… You could always sleep on the Jolly Rodger if you would rather be away from here. I think I could manage to get them to eat something in the morning before we figure out a plan of action” He looked up from his deepest thoughts, his eyes holding a silent prayer to me, for me not to leave- but at the same time it looked and sounded like he didn’t want to pressure or guilt me into staying here with him and… them.

“If you don’t mind….” _Snap out of it Emma, you never get nervous around guys! But no other guy is Killian Jones…_ I had to stop the internal debate before it paralysed me and made Killian worry for me further.

His eyes were said yet understanding for my predicament. How I ever managed to find someone who understood me like he did, I would never have a single clue. I just wished he wouldn’t worry about me so much because I had never been the centre of attention; and I wasn’t about to start now.

“The Captain’s cabin is the most secluded place on the ship. I would suggest going there. Goodnight Emma.”

As I left the loft however, I failed to notice the way Killian’s façade came down; leaving only a broken pirate in its wake.

** Killian Jones **

As Emma left I brought down my façade, allowing myself to feel everything I was hiding before. Confusion, hurt, and betrayal. Confused for what had befallen my friends, hurt and betrayed however? Well that was pushing the boundaries on what I would look through when searching my memories; for those? Well let’s say I was trying rather hard to never think of them again.

Closing my eyes and hoping to get a wink of sleep however was fruitless; for as soon as I closed my eyes they were immediately being pried open as I heard small feet on the stairs, and sure enough I could see Regina leading Snow downstairs in the oversized shirts that Emma had found on haste last night.

“Good morning princesses. I trust you are hungry?”

Snow and Regina seemed more wary of me this morning- and I realised that they could possibly have heard the stories of my villainy from their parents, but in their exhaustion they hadn’t really pieced two and two together when they had met me last night.

“Who are you?” Regina said quietly

“My name is Killian Jones. I want to help you. To get you home.”

The girls glanced between each other before looking back towards me, nodding and smiling.

“Where’s the lady who was here last night?”

“She was pretty” Snow said, following on from Regina, both giggling away happily.

“That was Emma. She also wants to help you, but she doesn’t stay here at the moment. But she should be here soon to help me make you all breakfast” I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face as Snow and Regina became happier before skipping over towards the kitchen area.

The boys had started to arouse at this point, and as I reached the kitchen David and Henry came around the curtain from the downstairs bedroom and tried to hop onto the stools like the girls had. David made it up on the first try, but henry however couldn’t reach the stool, leading to me carrying him round on my hip for a time whilst I started to make up some eggs on toast.

“Killian?” Emma called as she entered the loft, a small smile on her face when she saw me standing there with Henry; a smile that soon turned to surprise as three small bodies made contact with her legs and started to babble on about whatever they were thinking

“Morning love, do you want some food as well?”

“It’s okay, thanks.” She said dejectedly, keeping her eyes away from mine and the children surrounding her. “Where’s Neal?”

“In his cot; he’s been sound asleep since last night”

We spent the next half hour contentedly sitting around the table, eating breakfast and quietly chatting when Emma brought forth her plan for the day.

“I was going to take Neal and Henry today, and then you could take the others to the park or the beach or something?”

“Of course love, I think I know just the place” my love smiled before practically running out the door with Neal and Henry, leaving three sets of expectant eyes on me.

“I’m going to make a call quickly then I promise you all we shall go out somewhere nice.

Hello, Belle?

It’s Killian. How would you feel if some kids came over to the library today? Also, you may want Scarlett there for moral support”


	4. The library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey little owls! Thankfully I have been able to get my head around having this timetabled; so each Wednesday and Saturday shall provide you with Fluff!

** Killian Jones **

I hung up on Belle more abruptly than I had intended to because I had finally noticed that the children were all looking up at me expectedly. As much as Emma thought I was comfortable with the children, I was uncertain in my predicament. I knew that I should have at least have had a day or two with them before I turned to help- but I needed to do a couple of things that I would most certainly never take such small children with me.

“Come on then, there’s a place I know where we could go for the day”

“Will Emma be there?!” Snow said excitedly; even though she didn’t know that she and Emma were mother and daughter, she still wanted to be close to her.

“No I’m afraid little one; Emma’s at work at the sheriff station, so I’m going to take you to the library to see a couple of my friends” A moment of disappointment fled across David and Snow’s expressions before they joined Regina’s in being excited to be in a library for the day (or at least for the most part of it)

Motioning towards the door, Snow and Regina ran up to my sides whilst David went a little in front of me. Regina held tightly onto my hook whilst Snow gripped my hand, as if she thought I would disappear if she let go. On the way to the library Snow and Regina were babbling excitedly about what stories their parents had been telling them, and what stories they thought might be in the library. David would try to engage me in conversation every once in a while about some of my pirate adventures.

I struggled to return their smiles, to reveal that I wasn’t comfortable looking after them; but I couldn’t let anyone know that. Not yet anyway. Provided I wasn’t greeted by Tinkerbelle, for she would be instantly able to tell that I wasn’t comfortable with the situation.

Apparently Emma had made a few calls that morning for quite a few of Storybrooke’s remaining magical armada was doing research on what Maleficent had done and very few were surprised when I walked in with them.

“Killian!” Belle called over from the children’s corner of the library, something she had been working on during the six weeks of peace. The corner was filled with bright colour and what Henry had called “bean bags”. It created a subtle but happy atmosphere and the younger versions of my friends seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.

“Hello Belle. Little ones, this is the Lady Belle. She owns and runs this library and will look over you for a bit whilst you read”

“Are you not staying with us Killian?” Regina asked, her voice calm but her eyes betrayed for they were filled with anxiety and fear.

“Not this morning no; for there are a couple things I want to get for you but I cannot have you with me whilst I procure such items”

“So like a surprise!”

“Yes Regina. Like a surprise. Now go pick out a book before one of this lot gives you one”

Satisfied with his answer, she skipped away joyfully, picking out a red tome which looked oddly familiar though I knew that I had never seen it before. Behind her, Snow and David had pulled out… a story book? It looked a lot like Henry’s book with their own story in, but that was impossible for that should have been at Regina’s house. As they turned a page I realised it was not Henry’s book for it was a pop-up book; but I was almost certain that it was another one of the sorcerer’s books. I decided I would find that book later and find out whether or not it was another book by the author.

“You know, even though Emma had given me a warning about them being turned into children I still am surprised by them. Their so full of life and innocence; and look at Regina and Snow! Their actually getting along”

“I know what you mean Belle. Even though I was the one who found them I am still not over it. What I don’t understand is that they knew I was Captain Hook, but they still chose to trust me, rather than fear me like every other child who knows of who I am” Belle opened and closed her mouth several times for that revelation had truly shocked her. Not the fact that Killian was shocked; but his point was valid, for every other child except Regina, Snow and David had chosen to run away from him if they saw the hook.

“I think I’ll ask Blue about that; If that’s alright of course?” was it alright? I myself didn’t really know the answer to it. Blue wouldn’t do it if she realised that I was the one really asking, but because it had to do with Snow she may help. But I still wasn’t sure that she would, but the Lady Belle deserved an answer.

“Please do, but whatever you do, do not mention me”

“Why?”

“Because she still had the right to be angry at me” It took Belle a minute to understand to what I was referring, but instantly her face softened as once again she tried to convince me that it wasn’t me who did that, but her husband.

“I’m sorry about this but I really must go and do a couple of things quickly”

“It’s fine pirate, just leave the children with Belle like all your other responsibilities”

“Will! Sorry about him Killian”

“It’s fine Belle. And I’m not abandoning them, I’m going to get a couple things off my ship that I think may help me” Now the thief’s curiosity was piqued.

“Like what exactly? What could you possibly ‘ave on yor ship that’ll help this lot”

“A couple of things that I haven’t looked at for a few centuries that Blackbeard would never have been able to find or destroy.”

It didn’t take me long to reach the docks, and in the morning sun the Jolly Rodger swayed gently in her moorings, her old battered wood a comforting reminder of the family I once had aboard this ship; before my mother died and my father took the ship and joined the Navy, leaving Liam and I behind at the port on the streets.

Climbing down into the hold, I noticed that there were a few more barrels and a few less of everything else that I would have deemed worthy to trade. I had to push a few barrels out of the way of what I was here for; a secret door that would only open to those of my blood- for everyone else it just looked like part of the wall, unable to see the door that truly laid there.

As if the ship was awaiting for me to come back to this secret hold, the door opened before I could even touch it, revealing everything that was left of the Jones’ family belongings. A wardrobe to the left of the door held my Brother’s, Father’s and my own Naval uniforms (After all that had happened I couldn’t get rid of the thing), along with a couple of my Mother’s dresses. At the bottom I found one part of an item I believed would help me look after my small friends; the bow for the Violin which had been hastily thrown down the side of the wardrobe. Turning around, I could see my Father’s old desk sitting underneath the room’s only porthole, and to its right a couple of chests which would hold two other items. Upon the desk was an assortment of papers, left on the desk by Liam on our final voyage together (I could never bring it upon myself to move them, but maybe today I could take a couple of those papers). Glancing over the paper’s, I realised only three of them did I want to take with me; the last family portrait of my family all together, right before they told me of my true origins, when they told me that Mother was dying. Next was a portrait of when our Father had been teaching Liam and I to sail as children- Liam doing his best to hold the wheel in one position whilst I sat upon our Father’s shoulders, trying to catch one the swinging ropes above my head. The final picture was commissioned when I had become a lieutenant and Liam my Captain. We both stood proud in our retrospective uniforms, a sad reminder of everything that I had done and become.

I placed the paper’s carefully into a satchel which I had left by the door, followed by the violin and its bow which I had adapted to my brace. Turning to my left I opened the chest in which I knew my Mother’s belongings were held. Thankfully I didn’t have to dive into the chest of memories to find what I was looking for; a book of stories from my home land, with some Latin lullabies which she once would sing to get us to sleep- _Perfect for the little princes and princesses_.

After packing the book into the satchel I strode out of the room, unwilling to face even more painful memories of the few people I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried.

Rather than taking the items to the library to where the cursed children were at the moment, I took them to the loft so I could get the items in easy to find places for later.

The library was practically empty when I arrived apart from Regina, Snow, David, Belle and Tinkerbelle who were all sitting in the children’s corner together; everyone else had left to go for lunch already.

“Killian!” All three children yelled at once, colliding into my legs before I could tell them not to. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tinkerbelle watching my interactions in detail, and I was sure that she could already tell that I wasn’t very comfortable with this change of events.

“We found stories with you in them!”

“But some were different than others!”

“Miss Belle let us take the books with us so we can finish them!” Each of them explained, Belle and Tink seemed to find it quite entertaining having me surrounded by children.

I was about to take all three of them to Granny’s to get some lunch when Tinkerbelle told me that I should come down the church this afternoon and that I should leave them all with Granny and Ruby; It seemed that perhaps the fairies may have an idea as to why these children weren’t afraid of me, or even the magic that created them.


	5. The fairies knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi little Owls! Sorry for this being so short, but I've been really busy this week; but worry not! For these chapters will still be on the schedule! Also, every time I try to mark out a section for Latin it destroys itself when it posts despite the fact that I change it on here. All Latin parts are in Italics now.

**Killian Jones**

Belle and Tinkerbelle had taken to helping me to take the small prince and princesses down to Granny's so we could all get some food, but I knew that Tinkerbelle would most certainly have something else planned entirely. I may have been stuck in conversation with Regina at the time but I could see Tink's faces of concern and amusement as we gradually came closer to Granny's diner.

I was more than relieved to see that Emma's yellow vessel was parked outside of the diner, meaning that Emma, Henry and Neal would be inside and the children could entertain each other for the afternoon at Granny's whilst Emma and I could look into whatever had actually happened to them. On opening the door I could see Emma's cascading blonde locks gracefully tracing waves down her back, her concentration on the small boy in her lap instead.

"Hello Swan" I said quietly into her ear, taking her by (a hopefully pleasant) surprise, a sweet smile broke out across her features, and when I looked down into her lap, Henry was smiling brightly at me, still speaking in gibberish. " _Hello little prince_ " Henry's smile only grew brighter as I spoke to him in Latin, Emma still was in disbelief over that actually. Belle and Tinkerbelle had managed to get Snow, Regina and David to the back room so that Granny could look after them for the afternoon. Ruby soon came over to take Henry and Neal through to the back and I could see the internal debate happening in Emma's mind, but eventually she allowed her friend to take her son and brother to the others.

"How's it been at the station love?" I asked conversationally, trying to get Emma to talk to me, even if it wasn't particularly what I was wondering.

"Thankfully, quite quiet. Henry happily sat with a colouring book for the most part whilst Neal just slept meaning that I could see if I could find anything out about Maleficent but not much is coming up despite how hard I try. How were they?" I noticed the way Emma flinched when she said 'they', still not over what her parents had done to Maleficent's child, but regardless I had told her that they had been fine; despite the fact that I hadn't even been there that long because I needed to retrieve a few items from my ship which would possibly help us later on when we got back to the loft. Of course she was curious, but I told her she could find out when the young ones did.

"Hook?" I heard a feminine voice call out, and it wasn't till I looked over to the door did I see that it was Blue standing beside Tinkerbelle, looking over at me with an expression that I couldn't quite read, but I knew it meant that it was time to go over to the church where the fairies resided.

"Sorry love, I'll talk to you later and if I find anything out you'll be sure to know" I kissed Emma on the cheek on my way out, more for reassurance than a swift bout of love. I followed the fairies out the door and down the road until we reached the monastery where they had all come to reside in the first curse.

"Green tells me that you are confused about the situation with our resident royals" her tone was short and brief, but surprisingly it was missing the animosity that I expected.

"Yes. For a start it would be nice to know how they even ended up like hat in the first place; I had seen them not an hour before and they were all normal"

"Green and Belle also mentioned that they were showing signs that they were not like other children?" Her face twisted in confusion, eyes keenly searching the wide book shelf which we had stopped in front of.

"Oh, that. Well… Most children know of me and fear me if they see me around town, but they all knew exactly who I was but for some reason trusted me, despite the fact that they had heard the stories of me killing people"

"When they first met you…. Did they seemingly gravitate to you? Looking up to you almost like a father figure?" Well that was one way of putting I guess.

"Sort of, yes. I had to re-introduce myself in the morning, but they had no problem remembering that Emma had been there the previous night."

"I can only think of one spell that would have these after effects…. The spell will reverse the bodies and minds of all those in a room; not the caster of course, but everyone else would be thrown back in time. The difference between this age reversal spell and others is that they will be able to tell who they already knew and trusted, but not really know them. Almost like a feeling they get around others, whether or not to trust or love someone for instance. This would explain why the trusted you so quickly, for I know other's would not have done. Just based on the stories they would know of course" Not even subtle about that

"Is there a way to break the spell?"

"I am not sure, but my fairies and I will search through our collections, for the sooner we return them to normality, the sooner the town can be safe again"

I was about to take my leave when a question popped up in my head, and it was both intriguing and urgent

"Once the royals are back to being themselves again…. Will they be able to remember this? Everything that they are doing now?"

Blue never replied, just giving me a sad look as she went away.

"How fast can you leave the station and get back to the loft?"

**Not even subtle Blue. Not even subtle. Reviews?**


	6. Helping a Swan in need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its so short. Expect longer ones next week.

** Killian Jones **

He knew that simply calling Emma wasn’t going to be enough to tell Emma about what he had discovered; but that didn’t mean that he didn’t like hanging up on her so suddenly. I could feel something that almost resembled guilt floating around my chest for it.

But she needed to know, and I wasn’t going to talk about it in a place where nearly anyone could walk in at any time, so the loft was as good as anywhere else in reality.

By the time I had arrived Emma was already there, waiting for me to arrive.

“Oh my god Killian you’re as pale as a ghost! What did they say?” I repeated everything that Blue and Tinkerbelle had told me to Emma (leaving out Blue’s less than subtle remarks about me). I could see some of the colour drain out of her face when I told her that there was a possibility that they would all remember being children, of us looking after them, of Emma’s avoidance.

I could see that Emma was desperate to change the subject, so instead I suggested we took a walk down to the docks, and thankfully she agreed and followed me out the door and on the familiar path that I taken between the Jolly Rodger and the loft. She remained quiet and far away as we walked hand in hand till we reached my ship.

“What are we doing here Killian?” Emma asked dejectedly

“We are going to sit down for a minute and relax” I pulled her close as we swung our legs over the side of the Jolly Rodger, leaning closer together than we would with her parents around, but more than our usual silently agreed distance.

“What are we looking at?” She said, something resembling annoyance in her tone

“The Horizon”

“Is it doing something?”

“I just thought you’d find it calming”

“It is. So is rum” Emma leaned in closer to me, glancing down to where she knew that I kept my flask in this new jacket.

“Emma… I can tell that your heart is uneasy, and it’s my job… Well I hope that it’s my job to protect your heart, even when nobody is physically trying to steal it”

“You don’t have to stop me from going after Gold I’m smarter than that. He didn’t turn my heart dark and I’m not going to fall into one of his traps”

“I wasn’t worried about him getting to your heart I was meaning your parents.”

“We talked about this” she said, definite annoyance and general fed-up-ness in her voice this time.

“I talked and you walked away. Is anything going to be enough, or are you willing to lose them just to spite them”

“Give me the rum” I barely heard her whisper, and that made my heart break for her even more; for she was going through what I went through, except her parents only did it so that she could be happy, whereas my own parents had done it just to spite my real parents and so that I wouldn’t end up the way I was supposed to. Supposedly anyway, never did follow the rules, regardless of who set them.

“They’ve done a lot of good. Turned themselves into heroes…” She turned to cut me off, but I stopped her before she could “Yes I know they didn’t own up to what they did, but did you ever think that they were ashamed? That they wanted you to like them?”

“I’d like them more if I had known that they had turned themselves around. I like when people find their good hearts along the way.”

“They were trying to protect you, Swan, twice. When you were born they wanted to make you happy and when they found you again they wanted to make you proud. Do you want both those to be failures?” This time she looked away, almost ashamed for her anger, even though I could tell it was still there.

“We should probably go back to Granny Lucas and retrieve the children and get them back to the loft; it’ll be easier looking after them there” I said quietly, getting up to follow through with my plan, giving Emma the chance to follow me or not.

“I still need to wrap up at the station so I might be a while still…”

“I’ll get Neal and Henry back to their beds before you get back so you can relax then.” I walked off leaving Emma behind- something that I had never actually done before. And something I never wanted to do again. I knew that by tonight she would have figured out what she wanted and needed; and it wasn’t like there was going to be any trouble from the towns people- I had already told them that if any trouble arose during this time there would be trouble. In the form of a certain hook regaining its old purpose.

All of the children were more than happy to see me after being gone for a couple hours, although with the way they going on you would’ve thought I was gone for years.

Just as I thought it would, my Latin lullabies sent them all to sleep before Emma had even stepped through the door. And judging by her expression, she had made her choice.


	7. A blisfull morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello little Owls. I am sorry- why am I sorry? I haven't been posting like I said I would. And why is this? I have been decorating. And fluff is not something that I am well versed in, and I'm sorry for any angst in this chapter; hopefully you all think it was worth the wait!

**Killian Jones**

Emma had a look of determination on her face, and at last I could see that she had made a decision. About what however I could just hope my suspicions were true.

"Thank you Killian" She started simply

"What for Emma? You know that I would do anything for you and your boy" I could tell that she was surprised but I knew that really that wasn't what she was referring to.

"I was meaning my parents. You didn't have to step in and look after them, but you did. Just as you did for my brother and Henry. What I am curious about is what you brought back from your ship to help them."

"Well…" I said quietly, scratching behind my ear out of habit, once again wishing that Liam had gotten rid of that trait when he had the chance "I'm not so sure about that, I mean they are just ordinary objects"

"But they are not because they have meaning to you. You've seen pieces of my past through my box, so why won't you let me look through your version?"

Emma always knew how to make me admit something. So for the next hour I showed her all the things of my past, talking them through to her. We had been curled up together on her bed (Henry and David were sleeping in Henry's bed whilst Regina and Snow were in David and Snow's bed downstairs) when she spoke again.

"Seeing as you looked after my parents and Regina today, perhaps I should look after them tomorrow. I was thinking perhaps I should take them all to get their modern day haircuts, because have you seen my Mom's and Regina's hair? Their hair is practically dragging across the floor!"

"Admittedly yes, but are you sure about this? You're not just doing this because you feel guilty?"

"No it's not that. You were right about what you said; and I forgive them. Yes, what they did was wrong, but they were trying to protect me. Sure you'll be able to handle a crying baby and a two year old tomorrow old man?"

"Very funny Emma. And yes I will be able to look after your brother and son quite perfectly tomorrow by myself. If you need help with them just call Belle or Tinkerbelle; they'll be more than happy to help whilst you're at the station. Although I would rather we actually go to sleep so we can keep up with them, aye?"

"Aye Aye Captain!" Emma said jokingly, an honest smile covering her features whilst she went to get ready for bed, and I could only wonder how I got so lucky with her.

Then I realised that this would be the first time we had actually been in bed together- of course we had slept in the near vicinity of each other in the enchanted forest but never curled up together. Instead of feeling lust I felt an unusual warmth in my heart that threatened to consume me whole; and I let it do so to the point that I barely noticed when Emma climbed into the bed, but curling her into my side felt more natural than I could ever have imagined, and I realised I never wanted this little routine to end. Emma was more than complacent and cuddled straight into me, her body subconsciously coming towards my body heat and I couldn't help the smile that broke out as I fell asleep faster than I had in my entire life.

The following morning was even more domestic than the one before, both Emma and I cooking together whilst keeping the little ones from hurting themselves and making too much of a mess, but as we went along on the morning routine, I couldn't help but want this for real; that Emma and I might have our own family and this would be a regular day for us. Judging by Emma's smile I would say that she was enjoying this as much as I was, although I had a feeling she was enjoying for the fact she would be able to have a small bit of blackmail over her parents and Regina.

Emma quickly explained to Regina, Snow and David that they would be spending the morning with them, before apparently they would switch over and be with me in the afternoon- something that took me by complete surprise. I already knew that I would be taking Henry and Neal down to the docks and the beach to keep them entertained, and obviously there would be the traditional lunch date that Emma and I have been able to manage, even amongst the chaos of a town crisis. It would make sense though, as despite the fact they were actually adults in children's bodies, but it didn't stop them having the child-ish belief that if someone was gone for more than a few hours, that they were gone forever so that Emma even considered that they would want to be near me made me feel honoured.

After getting them all round up she finally got them all out of the door towards the door and into her bug, Neal finally decided to wake up and started complaining for something or other, whilst Henry just looked at me amusedly with his thumb in his mouth. This was going to be interesting.

" _So little one, what is causing you distress now I wonder?"_ Unlike Emma, Neal and Henry preferred me speaking in my home tongue, something that seemed to calm them down, usually that was anyway, for the little prince was certainly making a lot of noise for someone so little. Then I realised that Emma had forgotten to feed him before she had left. And to tell me where the baby food even was (I knew that her mother was not breast feeding him). " _Looks like there might be a little bit of improvisation might be in order_ " I bounced Neal in my left hip whilst I was trying to call Belle with my good hand. Needless to say it was a bit of a struggle but I managed it in the end.

She didn't pick up right away, but just before it could go to the voicemail service that comes up whenever I call Swan she answered, but my patience was already wearing thin from the small prince screaming into my ear; thankfully Henry was keeping himself occupied with a colouring book. "Belle? Can you please get over to the loft as Emma has forgotten to feed Neal and where she has put the baby food? Please help" Somehow I had managed to say that all in one breath, sending my voice a bit higher than usual, making her laugh on the other end of the line. She simply said that she would be here soon before hanging up on me, obviously amused by the situation Emma had left me in. Or perhaps Emma had deliberately left me this job just to make me squirm. It wouldn't have surprised me really.

Belle thankfully didn't take too long to arrive, and showed me what I needed to do, and despite my attempt to hide my feelings of ineptness she had managed to pick up it.

"Killian, just because you need a little help sometimes doesn't mean that you can't do anything- I mean most people could never be as dexterous as you are with one hand"

"And I should hope that nobody ever has to. It's something that not even I would wish upon my worst enemy, be it Rumpelstiltskin or otherwise- I would never resign them to a life time of mockery and embarrassment. I would rather kill them knowing that it was the less painful option, no matter how painful that death was it would be less so than this."

I could see by her face that she had no answer for what I had just said, but I couldn't tell her emotions for the fact that there were so many of them swirling behind her eyes. After my admittance I could not bear to face her anymore and went to go check on Henry and entertain him for a bit- doing anything that I could just so that I wouldn't have to face Belle again for a while.

**Belle**

Hook's confession caught me completely off guard by all my standards, and however much I wanted to tell him that it wasn't true, I knew that it would be a complete lie. I could just imagine going from a complete human being to someone who would need help to do most tasks he did by himself for years prior, and having seen him attempting to use modern devices which everyone else used with ease, he visibly struggled for his lack of a hand, but he would never ask others for help.

For the rest of the time I was in the loft with him, with him trying not to look in my direction for his admission. And I could understand him, but in another sense however no one would really understand his struggle for nobody else in Storybrooke was missing a hand- maybe the odd peg leg but they could still do everything that a normal person could do, but Hook's situation was completely out of the ordinary.

He had never struggled in the enchanted forest, but he had known all those skills all his life, and all he had to do was alter the skills that he already had whereas in this new world, without any new memories to help him with the transition, he was struggling in his silence.

Although looking at him with Henry, he was such a natural with him that you could have thought that  **he** was Henry's father rather than Neal. Although Neal never really raised him, or told him stories or taught him things, yet Killian had been doing that ever since Neverland. I knew from the multiple occasions when Rumple talked about Henry that he hated the fact that his grandchild held his enemy so dearly- and no amount of convincing from me ever stopped him from doing something horrible. Once again he had played me and because of my fault one of my only friends had nearly died at my husband's hands.

It was almost strange to think that one of my closest friends had once tried to kill me for who I loved; I still had the scar from it, his last evil deed. But whenever we saw each other I knew that he was sorry for what he had done as Hook rather than Killian.

A small shifting in my arms broke me out of my reverie, for little Neal had finally started to go back to sleep. I gently placed him down in his cot and said goodbye to Killian, and I hoped to the end of the world and back that Emma could help to fix him.

**Please leave kudos, subscribe and comment!**


	8. Author's note/ Competition (of sorts)

**Hello Readers!**

 

**I am sorry that I haven't updated in a while even after saying that this would have a schedule but this story has become nigh impossible for me to write on my own so I am reaching out to you guys here on AO3 for a co-writer or two, or as I would rather call you, my partners in crime.**

 

**If you would like to write this story with me there is only one thing that you would need to do- class it as a job application if you will;**

**I would like you to write a small one shot to do with this story. Conditions? It has to be after they have become children but before they become adults (that part of the story is already sorted out)**

**Once you have written it please could you gift it to me so then I will get notified that you want to join me in writing fluff and even if you don't get picked I will read every single one of them and comment!**

 

**I look forward to seeing any responses from you guys, but what I will say is that is only going on for TWO WEEKS. After the two weeks I shall contact the "Winner's" (You're all winners for bothering to read this) and we shall begin writing!**

 

**See you then little Owls!**


	9. The secret chef

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi my little Owls!  
> Sorry these are taking so long but this is really hard to write. Just as a reminder the challenge is still on (Despite the fact that NOBODY has actually written anything). If I can't find a co-writer then you are all going to have to put up with the updates having lots of time between them.

** Emma Swan **

I knew I should have felt bad, leaving Killian to figure out not only how to make the food for Neal, but where it was in the first place- but instead I felt almost victorious. I mean, the guy had sounded so sure of himself last night as we were getting ready for bed. **The bed**. The first time I had ever been next to him **in** a bed and it hadn’t even been remotely sexual. Cozy, yes, sexual, no. But that had not meant that I hadn’t checked him out in a new way. He was well toned from 300 years of sailing, and when his warm arms wrapped around me, I knew that I never wanted to leave the safe embrace only he could provide. Sitting at Granny’s watching Regina, David and Snow play with some colouring crayons provided some entertainment as I tried to get in contact with any of the hair dressers in Storybrooke (there were ones in the first curse but none seemed to be open anymore or even have a contact address. Then I remembered Killian had said one of his men did hair). Eventually a reformed pirate agreed to do their hair and so the children were gathered and herded towards the docks were the pirate had set up shop.

“Missus Emma?” Regina said quietly as we were getting close to the new hairdressers (which looked more like an abandoned restaurant than a salon), her small eyes questioning and filled with what almost looked like fear.

“Yes Regina?”  
“We haven’t done anything wrong, have we?”

“Of course not, why would you say that?”

“My mommy only cuts my hair if I have been bad. Please don’t cut off my hair!” by this point little Regina was nearly crying, and looking up the street I could see Snow was having a similar problem with this morning’s activity.

“I’m not trying to punish you, it’s just your hair is practically dragging across the floor and I don’t want you to fall over on it or for someone else to step on it” I could see her contemplating my answer, and eventually she nodded in agreement as did Snow and David.

Thankfully just as Killian had said, the man was super-fast and very accurate with a pair of scissors, and at the end he told to call him Tristan rather than “Pirate” (guess Killian wasn’t the only one who was using his real moniker).

The girls had settled on just trimming their hair so it was just a bit shorter but in the same style, whilst David had gone for his short back and sides look that adult David had in Storybrooke.

Even though Tristan had been fast with their haircuts, it was now lunch time; meaning it was time to swap over with Killian whilst grabbing a bit of peace and quiet, if only for a few minutes.

** Killian Jones  **

After the lady Belle had left the loft I had managed to keep Henry entertained until he finally fell asleep. Only then Neal awoke and wouldn’t go back to sleep until I picked him up and held him on my chest. Thankfully it was coming close to the time Emma and I would meet at Granny’s for our lunch and swap over who had what children. Even though it had been a challenge at first, and I had even needed help from Belle; I had found myself enjoying my time with the two younger children.

Henry had been colouring for most the morning, with me mainly talking in Latin to the little Bae- for he seemed to hate me talking in English for some reason even though everyone else was fine to talk in that tongue. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who preferred my home language to my third- for the young prince settled faster when I spoke in it than when someone else tried to get him to sleep in English.

Thankfully I had avoided talking in my natural language in front of Belle, but it was very close. So in total there was only six people in Storybrooke who knew that English wasn’t my first language- and out of those six only one was guaranteed to remember my language, and that was Emma. If anyone in Storybrooke was to know of my language then I would want it to be Emma for at least she wouldn’t judge me for it.

Neal allowed me to put him down for long enough that I would be able to get his pram and find Henry’s little harness that stopped him from running away or going too far. Doing both things however with one hand and a hook was somewhat difficult mind- but I somehow managed.

Granny’s was starting to fill up for the lunch time rush and I could see that Emma had not quite arrived yet so I took our regular booth whilst Granny took Neal and Henry round to the back lounge at the inn where we left them all together whilst Emma and I had lunch; which I wouldn’t have to wait long for just two minutes later she walked through the doors with Regina, David and Snow in tow with their new haircuts. Ruby came over to take the children to Granny whilst Emma came and joined me in our now traditional booth.

“How was your morning then? Successful I gather?”

“Yeah, I mean I managed to convince them all to get their hair cut and now we don’t have to worry about tripping over or standing on it. How did it go with Henry and Neal at the loft?”

“T’was good until I realised that you hadn’t fed Neal nor told me where to find his food. I had to get Belle to help me, Henry on the other hand was perfectly behaved and sat colouring for a good couple of hours before falling asleep at the table” her face fell slightly when I admitted I needed to get Belle to help, but just as fast as it came it was gone, and she moved onto less serious topics and tried to move past the morning and what we were planning to do for the afternoon. She would once again take Neal and Henry to the station whilst she worked on trying to catch any of the Queens of darkness, trying to return her parents, Regina and Henry back into their normal selves as well as keeping Storybrooke under control. I was going to take the children to the park so they could play and tire themselves out meaning they would go to sleep easier and faster than the night previous.

And so our daily bout of peace ended, and we each went back to the unknown in raising children. Regina downright refused to go on the climbing frame (unlike David and Snow who were all over it) and demanded to be pushed on the swings (which is a lot harder than one might imagine with one and a hook) until she became bored and decided that all four of them should try to fit onto the seesaw (all the children on one side, me on the other)(Not entirely sure how that one worked but I decided not to dwell on it) and finally after nearly an hour and a half of playing they all started to show signs of tiredness, willing following me back to the loft.

Seeing as it was now quarter past three I kept getting strange looks for nearly the entirety of Storybrooke seemed to pass us by as we journeyed back to the loft. The way they were all looking at me was as though I had grown two more heads (which was kind of understandable; for it wasn’t every day that you saw three people practically locked onto me, and the fact that they were children made it even stranger).

When we finally arrived at the loft I was greeted by Green and Belle, who appeared to have gone food shopping whilst I had been out.

“Hi Killian” Belle started out sheepishly, unlike Tinkerbelle who was grinning like the cat who ate the canary.

“Ladies. Thank you for getting some food in but I’m thinking that there may be an ulterior motive to your plans?” I said jokingly, making Belle a little less nervous and Tink… Well that didn’t change her expression at all.

“Why of course! I knew that you’d be cooking for them all tonight and then I remembered that amazing fish dish which you used to serve up in Neverland, so Belle and I decided to get you some ingredients with which to cook on one condition” I knew where this one was going. Thankfully the children hadn’t really been listening until she had finished

“Let me guess: seeing as you brought the food you would like to join us for dinner this fine evening?” Belle nodded sheepishly whilst Tinkerbelle just smiled wider (I wasn’t even sure that was possible) “Well I’m sure we could make space at the table for you both, don’t you reckon little ones?”

“Yes!” all three called at once, the excitement of having people around for dinner bringing up even more energy (god knows where from, for one minute they were practically falling asleep and the next they were bouncing around, full of energy)

Walking around the bench I could see that the ladies had picked up 10 fish in five different varieties, two decently sized crabs, along with some fresh herbs (not too unlike those Green grew in Neverland) and at the bottom of the bag, some cornflour and rum.

As I was pulling the items out onto the bench Belle looked over at me with something akin to sadness and regret; I could understand her sadness but not her regret. I made a mental note to ask her later about that.

It was a miracle at all that Tinkerbelle had never figured out my recipe, for whenever I made it she would always hover over my shoulder, and she was doing it still as I prepared a fish curry of sorts (Even though my time in the Navy had ended badly, it had allowed me to discover new things in new worlds, and curries were something that I was glad I had found). It was lightly spiced with the fresh herbs that Belle had picked out along with some paprika that I had found sitting in one of the cupboards (which was practically empty- seems I was going to need to make a shopping list later on). The sauce was just thickening up as Emma, Henry and Neal returned from the station, and Snow immediately ran to her unlike Regina who was reading her book and David was being regaled by Tink about her Neverland adventures.

“Hmm that smells good. It’s a wonder really why you haven’t cooked me dinner before now” despite the fact that her tone was mischievous I could tell that she was meaning it as a serious question

“Well that would require me having an abode and you willing deciding that you didn’t want Granny’s for dinner, despite the fact that you eat every other meal of the day there” Her laugh was almost as pure as Snow’s in that moment, and I was glad that I had been the one to do that.

The rest of the evening followed suit, with Belle understanding why Green had been trying to convince her to try my cooking, Emma and I trying to stop Regina and David from starting a food fight (which was a very close call), and by the end of the night all the children practically collapsed giving Belle and Green their sign to leave. Between the two of us we carried all the children to bed, and this time we put all the children upstairs in Henry’s and Emma’s beds so that we could sleep on the bed that was usually taken by her parents.

“Well this is weird”

“How weird? On a scale of my parents are children weird or that my lover is nearly 400 weird?” Even though it was a joke Emma looked downcast for a moment. “What is it Emma?”

“It’s just…. They all look up to us as though we are their parents even when they know we are not. Except for maybe Henry and Neal but, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“It feels like I have swapped places with my parents completely, with everyone looking up to them for answers and leadership, and on the top we are even in their bed. It just feels wrong to me because no matter how hard I try, I’m not like them.”

“Oh Emma. Nobody is expecting you to take their place; if they are I will put them in their place for you. Just remember that you’re not alone this time and…”

“Emma? Killian?” A small voice sounded from the bottom of the bed, and sitting up we could see indeed all of the children were standing at the bottom of the bed.

“What is it little ones?”

“We couldn’t sleep”

“Can we sleep with you?” both Snow and Regina asked at once. Henry apparently was ahead of them already because as I was talking to the girls he had walked around to my side of the bed rather than Emma’s and was already trying to climb up. After lifting him up and placing him in-between Emma and I the others followed suit, and once everyone was in the bed both Emma and I were covered in children, for she had her parents quite literally on top of her whilst Regina had tucked herself into my left side, Henry mimicking on my right.

And in that moment, despite how wrong the situation was, I could swear I was more at peace than I had ever been before.


	10. Being Ill is completely human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi my little Owls! Sorry it’s been so long but the schedule fell through and now it’s back to how my stories usually come out. Whenever I have managed to create a chapter, that’s when. For those of you who know my other stories, you will know I do not write fluff. It is a foreign language for me. Yet somehow I have managed to conjure up 2452 words (which is long by all my standards) of cavity giving Captain Cobra Swan. Enjoy and please review comment. Seriously comments mean more ideas and more ideas generally means faster updates.

** Killian Jones **

Despite the fact that he had spent centuries waking up at the crack of dawn, today he just didn’t want to move. What so ever. In fact if it was up to him he wouldn’t move at all and then he wouldn’t have to deal with the raging headache which was banging around his skull. Then he realised that somehow everyone else in the bed had drifted to be on top of him overnight. This was including Emma- for somehow in her sleep she had pulled Henry into her arms and then pulled them both so that her head was leaning on my shoulder and henry was tucked even further into my arm. The others had all moved around and it was typical that I needed to get out of bed but couldn’t get out without waking everyone else up.

That was until Neal started crying. All began to finally stir themselves awake and I could finally break free without anyone falling out of the bed and could tend to whatever was ailing the young prince- well I would’ve done had I not felt so nauseous once I had reached past the curtain.

** Emma Swan **

Sometimes I just wished Neal could be a little bit older, just enough that he could learn the concept of sleeping in on a Saturday. And almost more importantly, it would mean that her own personal radiator wouldn’t be moving to go deal with him. Well that was until he went positively green at the gills after getting to the curtain.

She had never seen Killian get ill before, and for some reason she had begun to believe that he couldn’t get ill, but she really should have just accepted he wasn’t a super human; because this certainly wouldn’t have happened.

“Killian? What’s wrong?” when he didn’t answer my worry grew, but then he raised his index finger to signal that I should wait. Then he ran into the bathroom and promptly threw up (thankfully I closed the door behind us before the kids saw that)

“I’m sorry you had to see that love” Killian finally responded when he stopped heaving

“Hey it’s ok Killian, you forget I’m used to people throwing up at the station, as well as baby Neal. When did you start feeling ill and why didn’t you tell me?”

“Only this morning love, although I had felt a little worn out last night”

“Must be the stress of all this getting to you” I muttered to myself; because of course he would be more stressed than I was lately; the man who had nearly crushed his heart had returned to town along with Ursula (although that situation he was able to fix himself, and gave her both her father and her happy ending back), and on top of that I had been leaving him with the children by himself more often than not. “Come on; you are going to stay in bed all day. I’ll call Belle and Tink…”

“No, I’ll look after them it’s…” once again he went green and not a minute later he was being sick again.

“Yeah keep telling yourself that because you are fooling no one Killian. As I was saying I will call Belle and Tinkerbelle and ask them to take them for a couple days whilst you rest up and get this out of your system”

“Where will you be” his voice was so much quieter than usual, and in that moment I understood what he was asking, he was asking if I could stay with him. I began to wonder when the last time that somebody looked after him when he was ill, for in that moment, he was simply a little lost boy, looking for reassurance.

“Right beside you of course. I’ll get someone to cover at the station for me”

I could see that he was beginning to lose consciousness again, so I wrestled him to his feet and pulled him over to the couch. By now all the children had climbed out of the bed and were looking curiously at Killian. They didn’t look as though they thought he would kill them, but it was still a fear in their eyes; perhaps it was fear that he would die? Because to a young person (and a regular one) he did look as though he was on deaths door- for his skin was “white as a new sail” as he would say, and his eyes were glassy and unseeing.

“Missus Emma? Is Mr Killian alright?” Regina asked quietly, looking more affected and fearful of Killian’s illness than the others, apart from Henry that was as he was walking over to Killian, but his concern was still there; a concern which a two year old shouldn’t have.

“Killian’s not feeling well today; but just you wait and see, he’ll be as right as rain in a couple of days”

Regina didn’t look particularly at ease with the situation, and I could see my mom was about to try and say something but my attention was immediately grasped by Henry attempting to cuddle up to Killian- despite the fact he was ill Killian pulled Henry closer to him in his sleep and even more surprising; Henry curled right up into him. I quickly reset the blankets over Killian as Henry had thrown them about a bit so that he could get in with him, and debated taking a picture of it to show him when he woke up, but then I realised I still had to call Belle and Tinkerbelle to come and collect the kids and find out if a couple of the merry men could act as deputy’s for the day seeing as the sheriff and only viable deputy would be off for the day.

A couple of phone calls later and I had three merry men manning the station, Belle was coming to pick up Regina, my parents and Neal (who had finally stopped crying- he had just been hungry and once he was fed he was back out asleep) and had found out that Tinkerbelle and the fairies were getting close to figuring out a few possibilities on how we could return everyone to their original ages.  I was originally going to send Henry with the other children but after he had climbed in with Killian he had fallen promptly asleep in Killian’s arms; and it would be criminal to separate or wake one of them up.

When Belle finally arrived Regina, Snow and David had gathered their library books which Belle had obviously found in the library for them, and it wasn’t until they were about to leave that I noticed that not only were my parents sharing a book, it appeared to be another one of the sorcerers books, just like Henry’s. On closer inspection I noticed that it wasn’t my parent’s story, but it certainly wasn’t one I was familiar with either, so I made a mental note to take a look at it once they came back in a couple of days (or whenever Killian was feeling better).  Even though I hadn’t told Belle why we couldn’t look after them today, she understood completely when she saw the practically comatose Killian asleep on the couch, who had changed colour from being deathly pale to extremely flushed, whilst shivering underneath the blankets.

As soon as Belle and the others had closed the door I was 90% sure that I sighed in contentment because now I could just relax a little bit and make sure that my boyfriend recovered- wait…. boyfriend? Had I really just called him that in my head? Hastily I shoved all those thoughts to the back of my mind, concentrating on the scene in front of me.

Henry had turned over in his sleep so that his head was now tucked tightly into Killian’s shoulder, his dark head of hair only a few shades lighter than Killian’s and in that moment it struck me; when they were like this, they looked just like a normal father and son, tucked up on the couch. And I waited for the panic that never came, for even though I was scared and almost ashamed that Henry never knew his father in any reality, Killian certainly wasn’t the worst substitute around. He had taken to Henry as quickly as he had to her, and without them even noticing he had become part of their lives and routines- doing everything that a father and husband should do whilst being neither himself. He had done so much for them both that she couldn’t help but smile at the man lying in front of her; he had brought them home on multiple occasions, given up his home so they could return to theirs, and even when Henry had no memories of him, he had taken care of him, and told him about his father and… won her heart. Now that started to make her panic, she loved him? I knew I had feelings for him… but love? It was too soon she kept scolding herself, but the beating of her heart didn’t slow, and somewhere along the line of her having a panic attack Killian had awoken and been trying to get her attention and broke her reverie by taking her hand.

“…mma? Emma are you alright?” he managed to croak out, his eyes still glassy held worry and concern and something else that she certainly didn’t want to place just yet. Not when it felt so good. 

“Yeah, sorry about that” I snapped out of my thoughts, lightly gripping his hand in one of my own, whilst the other went to feel his forehead. He was still burning up like he was on fire.

“What is it?” he asked slowly, his eyes consistently drooping against his command, but his barely there voice repeated all the concern he couldn’t hold in his eyes

“It’s nothing. Get back to sleep” even with my dismissal we could both tell that it wasn’t nothing. Even with my own lie detector it was nothing against Killian’s when it came to Henry and I. To him we really were open books.

“Can you answer me a question then?”

“Sure…” I was slightly nervous as to what he would ask, and was hoping against hope that he wouldn’t ask what was causing me to have a panic attack (he recognised the symptoms, so whenever one struck he knew about it)

“Why is Henry here instead of with the others?” I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that, of course he would notice that Henry was practically melding himself into Killian’s side. He always did have some sort of sixth sense when it came to what was going on with Henry, and it didn’t matter whether or not he had bothered looking down because there was no chance that he couldn’t feel Henry’s small hands grabbing his sleep shirt tightly, or his small mop of hair brushing his shoulder where the collar had fallen sideways. Killian probably couldn’t see how this all looked to someone watching, but I made a note to take a picture of them once he had fallen back asleep.

“He decided that he wanted to cuddle up to you and decided to fall back asleep again and whether or not you realised you were doing it you pulled him into your arms and neither of you have moved since”

“Well I am not sure I’m the only one under the weather then” I could feel myself pale, was Henry ill too? How could Killian realise that whilst he was only semi-conscious? It didn’t help that it was building up the image of Killian being a real father in my mind

“What do you mean?” I said as I was pulling back the blankets that I hastily thrown over them both, trying to get a closer look at my son who was seemingly trying to hide from the light in his sleep, wrapping himself into one of the people he felt most safe with. Henry’s skin was pale, and his nose was slightly runny. Seems Killian was right about Henry not feeling too good, he had somewhere along the line picked up a cold; but they were both in the best place, tucked under mountains of blankets, and resting the day away. It wasn’t till after I moved the blankets back that I had realised Killian had once again slipped from consciousness. I took that as my cue to get a picture of the two of them curled up together, and decided that it was a moment that I was not going to share.

I looked up at the clock and noticed that it was past ten o’clock and I still hadn’t had any food today, so I went and cooked up some eggs (of course, they didn’t come up as nicely as Killian’s did) on toast (which somewhere along the way became burnt) and finally settled the monster in my stomach.

Thankfully the next three days passed in the same fashion, but by the end of it both of her boys were finally feeling better; and her heart had finally decided that it wanted this to be **real**. That Henry, Killian and her all lived together properly, that they all looked after each other every day.

“Seeing as I haven’t been able to stay awake for more than 20 minutes at a time would you mind telling me what I have missed?”

“Well…” I proceeded to tell him that the fairies had two ideas on how to break the spell placed on her parents, Regina and Henry, that Maleficent had been rumoured to have been having an argument with Cruella about something although neither had come back into town yet.

I was just about to suggest that Killian cooks some food when Belle came through the door with everyone in tow, including two fairies.

“Mr Killian!” All three of them yelled at once, Belle and Tink were trying and failing to hold in their laughter whilst Blue just looked on in curiosity as Regina, Snow and David all grabbed onto Killian’s legs and were telling him about all he had missed.

“You know, when he had said they had taken to him as a father figure I didn’t realise he meant this much” Blue said to me quietly. I wasn’t even aware that he had said that, and told her such. “Well he didn’t say it in as many words but he had mentioned they had taken a shining to him despite his reputation, but this really is something else.”

“But more importantly, is there a way to break this spell?”

“Yes.”

**Enjoyed it? Please comment- as I said; more comments means more chapters, and more chapters usually means higher upload speed. No but seriously please review.**

 


	11. First words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I present... a long (by my standards) piece of complete and utter fluff to help us all deal with the pain and anguish which is inevitably happening in tomorrows episode. I mean, Emma is literally blackmailing him and emotionally playing him on his best dream into his worst nightmare. anyway, ramble over, enjoy the fluff.

** Emma Swan **

Emma could barely believe what Blue was saying. She had found a way to break the spell on her parents? Why hadn’t she already done it? Was it taking them longer than they anticipated?

“There’s a way to reverse the spell, but we need you to do it” Blue said calmly, clearly ignoring the looks of shock and anticipation on Killian’s and my faces

“Really? What is it? Why do you need me to do it?”

“The reason we need you to do it is because the one potion we could have made could have only been made by Regina, so the only other option we have left is for someone close to the children to have a true loves kiss with their one true love….” NO. Anything but that. For that she would have to admit to herself about how she felt…. About everything. Killian had already told her that she was his happy ending, that he wanted nothing more than her and henry in his life.

She didn’t even hesitate to run out of the door, leaving Blue midsentence in the middle of the loft, and four very confused children and an understanding Killian with them.

** Killian Jones **

As soon as Blue started her speech, I could see Emma’s walls go straight back up, her anxieties and fears taking the better of her and sending her flying through the door before the fairy could finish. I could understand why Emma was running- it was every reason that she ran before; for she believed that she could never have that kind of love, that she would never deserve it.

“Missus Emma!” All the children called at once, Henry looking at the door in what looked to be akin to fear. Striding over to the children, I picked up Henry, and told them all to be good for his friends and that he and Emma would be back soon.

Once again, Emma had strayed towards the docks, her place of peace, as well as my own.

“Emma?” I called out softly, hoping not to startle her from her position

“They can’t… I can’t do it… What kind of a saviour can I be if I can’t even save my family” She said in-between the silent tears which were building up in her eyes.

I felt Henry shift in my arms, trying to get closer to his mother. She in return opened up her arms and motioned for us both to sit with her. Once again, Henry shifted both us and himself so that we were directly next to each other, with him spread over both our laps.

“How can they expect me to do this?  Henry can’t remember me and… I don’t know… If I do this…. Will it change them? Will they hate me for not changing them back sooner? I just….” I didn’t hesitate to pull Emma into my shoulder, to allow her some security which I felt she might need in this moment. Emma in turn buried her head towards my chest, and I could feel the wetness gathering on my shirt where her golden head was resting, her body shuddering with the silent tears.

“I’m sure that they never intended for you to be pressurised, although I wouldn’t put it past Blue to try something on me. But she cared for you and your family- so she’d never hurt you intentionally.”

“You think?”

“I know Emma. What I don’t know however is what they are doing to entertain the children whilst we are not present for they looked as though they wanted to jump ship like you did. Well at least Blue did- Belle and Tinkerbelle didn’t seem to mind them.”

“That sounds just about right. Thank you, Killian” I went to ask her what for but she got there first “For helping me when I needed it, and pushed me to do the right thing”

“Well…” I couldn’t help the scratch behind the ear which always happened whenever I was uncomfortable or nervous- but it was blind-sided by the smile which Emma gave me.

Henry started babbling beneath us at this point, and was clearly trying to stand up on our laps, so I held him on one side whilst Emma had him on the other side. He turned his tiny body so that he was facing me and grabbing onto the lapels of my jacket, but nothing could have prepared Swan or I for what came out of his mouth next;

“Dada!” His tiny voice called out, and all of a sudden the whole world just… stopped. The little Swan had just called me father? It couldn’t be… “Dada, dada dada!”

Turning to face Emma, I could see her shock was also filled with tears of what looked to be happiness, seamlessly matching my own.

“He called you dad…”

“Mama!” Henry then called out, turning to his mother in turn, a giant smile plastered on his face

“Seems like it’s your turn now Swan” I said jokingly, but even I couldn’t hide the emotion which was there in my heart.

We spent another hour sitting there on the bench at the port, playing with Henry and listening to him saying his first words over and over again. I could barely believe what was going on, and the worst part of it was I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to stop. Having Henry and the others as children had been strange and uncomfortable at first, but now…. It almost seemed like it would be a crime to change them back, to give them the memories and all their old pains. Looking over at Emma I couldn’t tell whether she was having this internal debate too, but I knew that she was enraptured by the little boy who was sitting in her lap.

We were nearly back at the loft when Henry had finally fallen asleep in my arms- once again sparking the seemingly never ending desire to have my own family with Emma, but I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that she would never want that with me. That maybe she didn’t even think of me in the same way as I thought of her.

It took Emma a few attempts before she managed to say sorry to Blue for running out like that, and finally enquired about the other lead that they had been chasing whilst I took the children to get them ready for their nap before tea time, and when I finally re-emerged from getting Snow and Regina to sleep (after a Latin lullaby of course) Blue and Belle were just leaving, Tinkerbelle having left sometime before.

“So, Love. It seems we finally have some time to ourselves seeing as the little ones will be asleep for a little while before we need to get some Granny’s in”

“You sure about that pirate? I was rather hoping that you might cook something up for us again. I mean who knows, you could put Granny out of business at this rate” The playfulness in Emma’s eyes caught my attention like a moth to a flame, enchanted by her glow and radiance; although her statement had not gone amiss. It seemed like her playfulness was contagious- for I replied;

“If that happens I would not want to be the one who graces the Lady Lucas with that knowledge. I fear I would most likely end up with a crossbow bolt residing in my skull” Emma laughed at that, the visual representation of someone telling Granny that there was a better cook than her certainly did that to anyone who had met her. “Also it would help if we had some food to cook with Emma. I don’t think you have realised just how bare the cupboards are seeing as your family is always eating out rather than cooking a decent, and different meal. You don’t reckon they would mind if I went shopping tomorrow and brought some more food in so we could actually eat in?”

“I think they would love that. I know that they love your cooking as children but when we return them to their adult selves I’m sure that they would be glad to have some food in the kitchen for a change- though you still might be the one cooking as my parents will be looking after Neal when they get back to normal” Now that was a pleasant thought. Emma and I would actually be able to get a moments peace without having to worry about all of them as well as the town (which at this point was basically running itself, and thankfully Maleficent hadn’t reappeared as of yet, although we both knew she would never help to restore what she did.

“I still don’t get what you all were talking about when you were saying Neal never sleeps and is really fussy. With me the lad is asleep in seconds” Now she did roll her eyes at that, but at least there was no harsh feelings in them, only as if it were naught more than a simple reaction.

“That’s something Blue mentioned actually. I hope you don’t mind but I accidentally said about how they prefer you talking in your home tongue and she reckoned that the language you speak may be an ancient magic language and so whenever you speak it the listener becomes enchanted in a way”

“Pretty sure that’s not how that works- that sounds more like the siren curse”

“A siren curse? What the hell is that pirate and how the hell do you know about it?” Sensing that she wouldn’t give up until I told her this particular tale, I told her to call in and order Granny’s to be brought here before pulling the blanket off the floor (it had been left there after Henry and I had been ill. The soft blue blanket was cozy and warm and had evidently been used by one of the cursed children for it still had body heat in it) and wrapping both Emma and I within it before hurling the two of us onto the couch.

I could barely remember that I was supposed to be telling Emma about the siren curse until she reminded me because I was too entranced by the sound of Emma giggling as she landed on top of me. It truly was a wonder how the others hadn’t awoken by the glorious and pure sound that only my Swan could make.

“Well… When I was young...”

“So about a million years ago” Swan joined in, clearly enjoying the fact that she was hearing a story from my past

“Very funny Swan. But when I was in the navy and then when I had just turned to piracy, it was no secret that I enjoyed to sing, and would often be heard singing shanties and what not. But then a sorceress found out about my gift and was apparently jealous, so she cast a curse over me that whenever I sang, it would have the same effect as a regular sirens would, and then this ended up with many men’s deaths, for they were lured towards me and the curse would make me attack them. The only exception I have ever found was my mother’s Latin lullabies- something that I am rather happy about considering this latest situation we have found ourselves in” Her face went from playful and happy to sad and… angry? Very quickly and I wished that I had not told her, that I hadn’t broken that small spell of happiness which we had found within our cocoon.

She was silent for a few minutes before she finally asked the question which I had not exactly expected

“So your telling me you haven’t sung since Milah died?” her voice was barely above a whisper, a silent plea almost.

“No, I haven’t sung since before I even knew her. She never heard me sing”

“Well I hope you’ll break that absence. I rather enjoy it when you sing” I felt like the sun was shining again in that moment, for Swan’s smile returned to her face and she was as playful as she was before.

“I’ve only ever sung the lullabies to them, how do you…”

“I listen to you when you’re doing it okay? I mean it’s not hard, it’s not like there are any walls or doors to block your melodies out- not that I mind them of course”

“That is true. Anyway, seeing as I was too busy placing them all in beds would you mind telling me what the fairies other lead was and why they did not want to do it?”

“It was supposed to be a potion and a spell, but the only person who knows the spell is Regina and they don’t know where the original copy of the potion is because it was in a book that Henry was reading and now nobody knows where it is”

“So they were opting for the only plausible option then”

“Yeah” I could barely help myself for what happened next, as Emma shifted, so that I was on the edge of the couch and she was beside me, I saw a perfect moment to try and discover something about Swan that had merely been a passing curiosity; whether or not she was ticklish. Swiftly, I moved my hands to her waist and began to lightly skim the skin there, and sure enough, Emma began laughing.

“Noooo Killian… stop… stop” Emma said in-between her laughter, and once again I could have sworn that she was the sun for the radiance of her smile. Then I realised- it wasn’t just her smile that was glowing, but her whole body was reacting to being so happy by actually glowing.

“Alright then. Although I didn’t realise that white magic could make you glow like that”

“Yeah well, at least you know when I’m feeling really happy”

“Something I shall try for more often”

Soon we were interrupted by Henry and David who had woken up hungry, and Snow and Regina were not far behind them. The food fortunately came only five minutes later, at the same time Neal woke up hungry and complaining.

But throughout all of this, I could not wipe the bright smile off my face for the marvel that was Emma Swan.


	12. Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry for the long wait (again) although I am giving you a much longer chapter than usual. I got carried away.

** Emma Swan **

Hearing Henry say his first words (for real) was nothing short of magical, but nowhere near as amazing as the look of adoration which Killian returned to him (I can’t lie- I was jealous that in this reality Henry’s first words had been for Killian) (although I couldn’t fault him when he immediately turned to me and called me “mama”) and then later the man who I only could have wished I had met sooner had managed to find a new part of my magic which I had no idea existed- I could glow. Albeit not on command (unless that command was being tickled by your pirate boyfriend if that counted) but amazing nonetheless.

I wished that my parents and Regina could have stayed asleep a little longer so Killian and I could stay in our happy bubble, but instead they were complaining of something I could easily relate to. They were hungry. And thankfully Killian had made me order the food before he decided that he wanted to know whether or not I was ticklish, because otherwise we would all be sitting here for forty minutes with grumpy children (they were putting Leroy to shame at some points) we only had to wait five.

Henry decided to sit on my lap for a change (instead of Killian’s- he was becoming a daddies boy, even if it wasn’t his actual father) whilst my parents were flanking Killian at the other end of the table. It wasn’t until my mom was half asleep in my arms did I realise that I hadn’t looked into the story book which my parents had picked out, so once I had tucked Regina and Snow into my bed I picked the book up and took it back downstairs with me to see who’s story it was- for it certainly wasn’t my parents as theirs wasn’t a pop-up book.

Ass I came down the stairs Killian had already started to make some hot cocoa and cinnamon for the two of us, quickly noting the book underneath my arm with a sense of recognition. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that had noticed the new book.  

“Where was that love? I have been wondering what it was but couldn’t see it earlier” It was almost magical, the way Killian was drawn towards the book, his eyes never leaving the cover

“It was under my bed- the girls must have hidden it there to keep it safe or something. I can’t say that I recognise this one, because it decorated differently to my parent’s one” Not to mention about five times bigger. Seriously, how had they been carrying this around with them?

“Perhaps the decorations change with each author?” Well he certainly had a point there. This book had seemed a lot older than Henry’s book, and even the illustrations inside were of a different style.

“Maybe it would make sense. But whose is it?” I wasted no time at all in opening the cover, and lo and behold, the first thing I see was what looked to be Killian throughout every stage in his life as the title page. Turning the page began the tale of how the man sitting beside me had ended up by my side, I saw Milah and Liam, the place where he had once called home, and I saw him stand up against Poseidon for Ursula, something which he had conveniently left out from his retelling of that particular story. From start to finish the book had been filled with endless adventure and magic, and towards the end, I realised that I was amongst the pages, more so than I ever was in my parents book, something which pulled my mind into a new perspective; for even though I was important in my parents story, I was nowhere near as important as I was in Killian’s.

Upon closing the book, I realised just how tired I was, and what time it was at that matter.

“It’s four AM already??” I said to Killian, but he was already one step ahead of me, pulling me into his arms with a grace only I knew that he had. I must have been really tired because the next thing I knew it was twelve PM and Killian had gone and gotten lunch- **with** all of the children with him to allow me to sleep in. Well I thought it had just been to catch up with my sleep until I realised that I had come down with the cold which Henry had had just two days ago. Just my luck- just when I find a quiet moment to enjoy with those around me, something bad happens to stop that. And this something happened to be the Flu.

Half an hour later, Killian and the others walked through the door, and with them brought the heavenly smell of chicken soup (Killian **MUST** have bribed Granny for that one- for that had never been on the menu. I had since moved to the couch and Killian had immediately brought me another blanket as soon as he had dropped the food off on the counter. He didn’t have to say any words for me to understand what he was feeling and telling me. I must have dosed off because the next thing I knew the children were all asleep in their beds, and Killian was silently playing the nurse just as I had for him and Henry. Seemed what goes around comes around after all.

It was four days of being pinned to the couch by all the blankets loving placed by Killian that I finally recovered, although this time all the small versions of the people I knew had stayed in the loft with us both (and I’m still not sure how Killian managed to do everything by himself). It was only once Killian was completely sure that I was now fine that he allowed me to go back to work, although he didn’t allow any of the children to join me until a couple of days later.

Even though I couldn’t say it out loud and it scared me when I admitted it to myself: I did love Killian Jones. I just had to work up the courage to tell him that.

** Killian Jones **

Finding the book with my own story within it was nothing short of bizarre- and it was a wonder that the prince and princess had never felt this way about their own book. Or perhaps it was just because I wasn’t as proud of my past as they were- for I had a lot more to hide away from the world than they did, and at least a few hundred times over at that. But it seemed like life just wanted to make everyone in the loft even- for the next morning (well after Emma had gone to bed at four in the morning) I discovered that she had come down with the cold which Henry had not four days before.

Having Emma fall ill straight after Henry and I seemed to be exactly what she needed, in a completely backwards way- for it forced her to stop for a few days and catch up with herself and allow me to finally repay the favour and look after her and the children for a bit.

I also managed to finally go shopping, and so I left the children with Belle (apart from Henry), and so I pulled out the shopping list, and made my way to the various stores which lined main street.

Reading the list I made mental notes as to where I would have to go for each;

2 chickens

20 fish (various assortment)

Vegetables (assorted)

Fruit (check where Smee and the others have been getting theirs from)

Spices; Paprika, Chinese five spice (?), cumin

Herbs; oregano, Basil, Tarragon

Beef mince (little Bo peeps butchers)

Potatoes

Pasta (sheets and twists)

~~Snacks~~ (ask Emma later- get another time)

 

To say the least I felt fairly confident in being able to get some items with which I could successfully cook a few meals for everyone, and fortunately for me, Henry couldn’t reach the shelves to put any unwanted items in the basket (didn’t stop him from trying mind)

It struck me as Henry and I were on the way back to the loft how strange but also how normal this whole situation would be to everyone looking in, for those who knew me as Captain Hook would fear for the child, or would at least find it strange, however had the viewer been from the world without magic, it would look like nothing more than a father and son who had gone shopping together. Now that was a strange yet daunting thought.

By the time I had gotten back all the others (including Emma) were all asleep for the afternoon leaving me to put Henry back to bed for a bit whilst I got some food ready for later. Belle had stayed surprisingly and ended up helping me to prepare some chicken Kiev’s (how do you even know what these are Killian? _I had some when I was having to retrieve something or other for Pan. Good food mind_ ) Emma was just about stirring from her sleep when I was serving food (something that not even ill could take from Emma- the undeniable knack to when food was ready to eat.

It was four days before Emma was back her usual self, and two more on top of that before I allowed her to take any of the children to the station with her (I didn’t want her getting ill again) and my plan to get her back to full health and sanity had seemed to work. Mostly at least that was. Because there was still the matter of her looking after her toddler parents and step Grandmother. At least his family tree wasn’t so complicated. Although the reason for it being so simple was because he was the only one left (to the best of his knowledge- but how many other Jones’ could have found a way to live for longer?).

Little did we know that Maleficent was done hiding, and was coming back to town.

** Emma Swan  **

I had been back to work for a week when Killian and I’s daily lunch date was crashed by the very dragon who had caused all the craziness in my personal life in revenge for what my parents had done to her own  daughter.

We had been sitting enjoying our lunch when she burst through the doors, asking me to find the daughter which had been thrown into the world without magic; a daughter who had hurt and betrayed me- Lily. Killian had been nothing but supportive in the whole situation, and had agreed to get the others to help him look after my family for me whilst I was away. But I knew Killian Jones, and the glint that he held in his eyes suggested that he was up to something; and I could only guess about what he was evidently planning to do whilst I was away fetching Lily, as well a paying a visit to New York, after a message in a bottle from Ursula arrived for Killian saying that Zelena was the one with Robin but Robin still believed that she was Marion, and so Emma was going to get Robin and Rowland back into to Storybrooke with her.

Taking one last look at Killian as I crossed the town line, I felt something that resembled what Killian felt when he had no heart- my chest was empty, and… it hurt. I couldn’t feel the safety or warmth that Killian usually provided me with, and so I knew that I was just going to have to rely on a call every day to keep me sane with all that was going on.

The roads between Storybrooke and New York were tedious, especially when you have someone who you don’t like (and doesn’t like you) sitting in the passenger seat- and I still hadn’t gotten to the worst part yet- for soon Zelena, Lily, Robin, Rowland and I would all be trapped in a tiny compartment until we got back to Storybrooke. Until I reached Killian’s safety once again.

“He must be real good in bed to keep you with him” Lily’s words pulled me out of my reverie faster than the wolf that showed me to her.

“What?”

“You’re real quiet- meaning your thinking about someone special. And seeing as you don’t do feelings he must be real good in bed to get your thoughts from so far away” She was regrettably right about that- but that was the old me. The new me actually acknowledged my feelings for Killian… They just refused to name what that feeling was per say.

“I wouldn’t know whether or not he’s good in bed, we haven’t got that far.” It was Lily’s turn to be surprised, although when I admitted it was only because curses and various other magical forces had been stepping in and stopping it. And the fact that he was an inherent gentleman.

“You? With a gentleman? You have to be kidding me! Your usual type is tall, dark and dangerous. Not to mention usually thieves.”

“Well he is all those things, in a sense. Although he gave up a lot for me”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“His home of around four centuries, his path of darkness and revenge, as well as so much else. I really don’t know how I got so lucky”

“Wait, go back a bit… Around four hundred years old?? How old is this guy!?”

“If we ever figure that out- I will tell you. Let’s just say he’s so old that he can’t remember how old he is himself.” And for once, we were both laughing, just like old times (before I ruined everything).

After that, conversation flowed freely between us, although it was clear that Lily was still against her mother and my own parents. That being said she was appeased a bit when I told her about the curse that she had placed over my parents. We talked until we realised that we had passed our destination by about two blocks- something which would take a while to get back to in New York.

Reaching Neal’s old apartment, I realised just how complicated this would all be, because not only had Zelena disguised herself as Marion, she was now also pregnant with Robin’s child. Rowland had apparently missed me, (or he was running from the maniac who had disguised herself as his mother) as he grasped onto my leg, not too unlike how my parents did to me nearly every morning when Killian was trying to make food whilst I tried to distract my cursed family from hurting themselves on the corners of the kitchenette, and in a reasonably neat state (that was a losing battle most (every) mornings).

I just wanted this entire thing to be over already- because then I could get back to where Killian and everyone else was waiting for me. Even with my parents cursed as toddlers that reality was still more sane/normal than this road trip from hell.

** Killian Jones  **

I had waited until Emma was over the town line till I called the dwarves and Merry men who weren’t at work into my plan- to create a suitable living space for Swan, Henry and I, one that would suit our needs if it was just us, and would still be able to cope with the situation which we had found ourselves in concerning her family.

I had managed to find a place which I almost knew Swan had never seen before- A large house which was a way out of town, yet close enough to town to get anywhere quickly, and had its own beach and private dock. The gentle blue and grey wooden shell housed four bedrooms, two studies (one of which I already planned with Belle to turn into a Library which could hold all the important scripts we would need for any magical research), a big kitchen which was openly planned with the dining room, and the lounge was just off to the side of that. The house also held a basement which had previously been used for storage, and would probably be turned into a larder so that we could always be able to cook for ourselves each night (unless Emma was particularly craving Granny’s). In The bedrooms I had already chosen a master bedroom for Emma and I, whilst Henry would have the loft bedroom, a space which the dwarves had already started on fixing up and insulating to bring it back to its former glory.

The house as a whole was a blank slate which happened to be in the shape which Emma and I had wanted so that we could have somewhere which we could escape from the craziness which had become our lives.

The dwarves had started by modernising the kitchen whilst the merry men had gotten to work moving in some furniture (my desk from the Jolly Rodger for the dining table, some beds and bookshelves from Gepetto, A leather couch from Ruby and Granny as well as various other items which were being donated by the people of Storybrooke for their Saviour. I had taken a stroll down the dock outside the house when Emma called.

“Hello Love”

“Hi, Killian…”

“What’s wrong love? Has something happened at your end?”

“Sort of, yeah. Let’s just say that whole situation with Zelena pretending to be Marion just got a lot more complicated”

“How so love?”

“She’s pregnant with Robin’s child. And on top of that Lily is being difficult on coming to Storybrooke- though she was more than happy to talk about you and laugh at your age”

“Really Swan? You haven’t seen the woman for years, and one of the first conversations was about insulting my age? I thought we were past that love”

“You were past that. I can still laugh at it. Although I should thank you for it really, because after that it became a lot less awkward between us.”

“Well… I guess that would be an upside to it- although I still don’t like the fact you have said that because I know that I will never hear the end of it once you all arrive back in Storybrooke.”

“So I gather you have had a better day over there with the less than stressful children to deal with by yourself? And what about your project which you are evidently trying to hide from me?” nothing got past this woman sometimes.

“Well Tinkerbelle and Belle have been helping with both the children and my project today- and no, I am not going to tell you what I’m planning. I’m just trusting you to trust me, and that you will hopefully enjoy my gift to us.”

“A gift to us? You haven’t found a way to make Storybrooke less crazy have you? If so that would be great”

“Unfortunately not. But I have a feeling that you will like it. I know Henry does”

“How is he?” I could hear the love in Emma’s voice, all her attention on a little boy whom she could not even see at the time

“At the moment, sleeping, along with the others. He has been asking after you though- putting those new found words to good use in your absence. I just…”

“What is it Killian?”

“What happens when they all turn back, and Henry realises what he called me? I know that he regretted not knowing his own father that much, and I just feel that….”

“You feel like what Killian? Uncomfortable?  What do you feel about it?”

“I just feel that once he is returned to his natural state- he may not like me anymore, or see me in the same light as he did before all of this”

“Killian, you don’t really think he would hate you for this, do you? Henry already saw you as a father figure before this whole mess. All this will have done is possibly strengthened that thought and he may even just accept that you are his father. We have no idea how all this is going to work once we get rid of this curse, but I know that Henry will not hate you for what he has said. If anything he may just continue to call you that. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about Killian”

“You amaze me sometimes Swan”

“Only as much as you do to me. So….. Are you going to tell me what your project is or….?”

“Ha, nice try Swan, but a pirate does not share that easily”

“Are you really going to make me guess? Even when you know I hate surprises?”

“Well I promise you that you are going to like this surprise, even if that doesn’t come immediately”

“You’re no fun sometimes Killian. I’d better go back inside the apartment from hell and stop Zelena or Lily from doing anything stupid. Good night Killian”

“Sleep soundly, my Swan”


	13. The house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long for to even realise that I hadn’t posted anything here for a while- I just had no more ideas on how to finish the story. Although I now have some more so here we go again! Thank you to the people who have commented in the past week as you reminded me of the story and ended up giving me more ideas. SO THANKS GUYS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON

**Killian Jones**

Emma had only been gone for two days, yet I had completed (with the help of a lot of Storybrooke’s residents) the house which was to be Emma’s hide away from the world, somewhere she could relax and not have to worry about monsters and curses and dark ones. The dwarves had nearly finished doing Henry’s attic room and were upstairs putting in the finishing touches to it for once he was back to normal, whilst Marco and August were finishing placing the furniture they had made into the house. 

Even though I was only standing in the entrance hall to this house, it was beginning to feel a bit more like a home. Turning to the right I could see the children were sitting there reading their books from the library (the one with my stories having been hidden away from prying eyes after Emma and I had read through it), all awaiting for the call from Emma to say that she was nearly at Storybrooke’s border. Snow and David had both been more than a little bit stroppy with me once they found out that Emma was going away for a few days, not wanting to leave their daughter’s side despite they couldn’t remember that they were all related. Regina had been a bit worried as she was going alone but was reassured when she heard Emma’s voice through the phone, marvelling at the technology in the world they had found themselves in. 

I had found myself getting closer and closer to Henry as well over the past couple of days, his vocabulary was certainly growing by the day, as was his love for stories and my native language. He would often ask for his story book, which would lead to the others all sitting around me in a circle whilst I sat in one of the armchairs in the lounge, going through each story- and each story making it easier to be around my friends in their younger selves. 

Tinkerbelle and (surprisingly) Will Scarlett would both come over to help me with the children while also doing odd jobs around the house, such as cooking, cleaning and making sure the children didn’t hurt themselves around the house. The latter one being more of a challenge than one might think. Tinkerbelle had also been creating various gadgets and items to help around the house, but by far her greatest creation was one that she made with Marco.

It was not dissimilar to a mannequin's hand in the way that it looked, not quite as rigid as my other wooden hand with small joints involved, but when the fairies magic was applied it came to life, giving me a second hand which didn’t also play tricks on my mind. The blue fairy had surprisingly helped them on their endeavour seeing as she had animated Pinocchio many years prior, and since they had done so she had been less cold towards me- something Green looked particularly happy with. The hand certainly made looking after the children a whole lot easier, because I could actually do everything that they needed me to do, and after a few directions on how to do said tasks, I became self sufficient with them. 

I was just contemplating what meal I should cook for the children that night when I got a call from Emma saying that she was about half an hour away and would meet them at Granny’s. Looking back into the lounge I saw that Regina was now the only one who was still where I had last seen her.

“Regina? Would you go and get Snow and David please, we are going to go Granny’s for food and Emma is going to meet us there” The little queen’s face lit up once I mentioned Emma, quickly running off to go and tell Snow and David the message whilst I went upstairs to get the sleeping Neal and Henry.

“Hey Jones!” I heard Leroy call out as I was just coming out of the room with Henry and Neal in my arms.

“Yes Leroy?”

“We finished the attic for you, and everything is ready to be moved across from the loft and the mayor’s house” the dwarf grumbled, the other dwarves beginning to appear behind him from the stairwell leading to Henry’s new room.

“Thank you Leroy, you and your brothers have made this whole surprise for Emma a reality and I just know that she is going to like it, although she may be a little shocked and a little stunned at first”

The dwarves laughed at that as we all headed down the stairs, the children and Tinkerbelle already ready to leave the house.

“Come over here Henry, it’s time to see your Mama!” Tink called over, making Henry squirm his way from my grasp before toddling over to Tinkerbelle who already had his harness in hand, allowing me to put Neal into his stroller and put on my jacket.

We were nearly at Granny’s when we spotted the familiar yellow vehicle pull up, Emma quickly running out to come and greet us, Henry and Tink running up to her, the other children not to far behind.

“Emma!” they all cried out at once, making us both laugh at the situation we had found ourselves in. 

“Alright you lot, it’s my turn to give Emma a hug now” I called as I strode forward to pull her and Henry into my arms, the others giggling before grabbing both of our legs.

“Regina?” Robin called questionly, making both Emma and I remember that Lily, Robin and Zelena were all there watching us.

“Who are you?” the young girl replied, her lack of recognition breaking the older man apart. Giving Emma a look I pulled back to go and talk to him and the other arrivals, and to introduce Lily to her mother. 

It was only once the children were settled in the back of the diner that Robin finally asked the question.

“How did Regina and your parents all end up as children Emma? And how did you find out about…” the sandy haired man gestured towards Zelena who was sitting at the bar with the dwarves surrounding/supervising her and making sure she couldn’t escape before she was taken to the hospital.

“Ursula sent me a message. Apparently she had taken her father to where she used to live in New York and saw her. Poseidon told her what was going on because he could see her magic and they sent the message to us. And I believe you know what happened next after that” I answered,and Robin looked away as I told him, whether it was him trying to remember if he had seen them or if he was berating himself for not noticing before that his own wife was an imposter. 

“What about Regina” he asked quietly, and I knew that this question was better directed towards Emma so I left her to explain whilst I went to see Henry and the others. Snow and David had settled fairly quickly as they knew that Emma was just next door, but Regina was sitting further away from the group, staring out of the window.

“She didn’t eat much, and once she did she went over there and started to ignore us all” Granny said in passing, sparing a glance towards the dark haired girl before going back to the main part of the diner.

“Hello lass” I called over to her softly, as to not startle her. She turned softly towards me, and I could see the tears welling in the corners of her eyes “What’s wrong love?”

“That man. I… He…” 

“What is it Regina?”

“He was in my dreams. But I’ve never met him and I miss my Papa and my home and..” the small queen finally let down her walls and the dam burst, letting out all her thoughts and feelings from the past few weeks, and I could do little more than hold her whilst she cried, and that was how Emma found us when she walked into the room to take us back to the loft. I simply nodded towards the others to ask Emma to take them outside whilst I calmed down Regina enough to leave the room. 

When I finally came out, Regina had tired herself out and was now asleep on my hip whilst Emma’s parents looked ready to do the same where they stood. I knew now may not be the best time for the surprise but with the children looking like they were all going to pass out I figured it would be better to go to the closer place. Emma went to move off in the direction of the loft when I caught her arm.

“This way love, I have something to show you. Snow, David? Would you mind walking ahead us of us please” Emma glanced between me and the children, something balanced on the tip of her tongue but she did not say it, opting instead to trust me in my judgement. I hoped that Snow and David would do as they were told instead of attempting to be limpets to her leg.

“Yes Mr Jones” The two called in unison, and I was thankful that they were too tired to think of doing anything else than what they were told. I just hoped that Emma wouldn’t run a mile once she saw what I had done.

**Emma Swan**

When I had found out Killian had been working on a project I had never expected this. Anything except this had crossed my mind and I felt like I wouldn’t be able to run fast enough from it.

He had bought us a house.

A house which he had just made into a home hoping that me and Henry would come and live with him. Yeah I definitely couldn’t run away (fast enough) from this. But I was currently pushing my brother towards the house and no doubt Killian had moved his crib to this place so I had no choice but to keep going. 

I could feel his eyes watching me whilst he herded the children into the house, Regina on his hip and henry on his halter, gauging my reaction. Meaning that he had probably noticed that I wanted to run away. But he knew I couldn’t leave Henry behind.  

It was perfect. He had  decorated the whole house in gentle shades of blue, green and yellow, the light colours reflecting the light around the seaside home which he had made. There were pictures of us all over the hallway, pictures taken in the quiet moments (usually when the other person didn’t know about it)- pictures such as me reading a book on the couch with my glasses on, with Henry on the floor beside me with a comic book. Another was of Killian bent over a table covered in books, his eyes trained onto the pages in front of him whilst he was looking for a way to free the fairies.

Turning right into the lounge area I could see the kids all curled up on the different seats and sofas around the room, whilst Henry was on Killian’s hip, his new wooden hand keeping his sleeping charge safe. That in itself was a whole new surprise, for I knew that Killian wanted to have two hands again, but was reluctant as Gold had played mind tricks on him the last time he had had it, but he explained that Marco had made the hand whilst Mother Superior and Tinkerbelle had animated it for him, and even allowed him to feel it. That was all done without him finding out about it which was surprising considering nothing ever seemed to get past him (although he had been looking after three children, a toddler and a baby so I guess he could be let off this time)- I made a mental note to ask the confidents how they managed it so I knew how to do it too.

Picking Neal up from his push chair, I realised I had no idea where I was supposed to put him, and so walked over to where Killian was making sure the others were alright.

“Where does this guy go Killian? I can’t see his bassinet anywhere down here”

“That is because this house has more than one room and a lot more privacy- meaning if he starts to cry not everyone has to know about it. Follow me love” he said gently, nodding towards where the stairs were whilst making a less than subtle dig at my parents loft. He had a point though about when Neal was uncomfortable everybody else was too- because that had been one of the main reasons I sometimes felt like I hadn’t slept in a week. And usually that was because I  **hadn’t** slept in a week. So having someplace where he could be noisy and not disturb literally everyone was definitely a bonus. Although the room itself did surprise me.

Apart from the single bed and the bassinet there was nothing that wasn’t necessary like the centerpieces. There was a changing station on top of the clothes drawers and a wardrobe by the window, but the walls were plain white, and there was nothing decorating the space in the impromptu nursery. After watching Killian place Henry onto his bed with a blanket, I realised I had been staring for too long and put down my brother so he could rest for a bit before he ended the peace. 

It was only then that I noticed it.

“Is that a baby radio?” I asked incredulously, something Killian evidently found rather amusing from the million watt smile that lit up the room.

“Yes, the fairies said it would make it easier to hear the little prince screaming and not disturb the rest of the house as much. And I must say it worked rather well when we all slept here last night” he motioned towards the door for us to leave the two young boys to sleep. “Would you like a tour love?” nodding quietly, I followed him around this house which he had gotten for us, for our future. 

On the first floor was two bedrooms, one of which Henry and Neal were currently sleeping in, a small home library (something he and Belle had come up with) as well as a big bathroom. Going up a floor showed a master bedroom facing the sea with a balcony and comfy chair, the room including an ensuite and a walk in wardrobe, and a study across the hall where we could work from home from time to time. Saving the best till last though was to be Henry’s bedroom once he was back to normal. Killian didn’t show me his room as he had done before, just pointing me in the direction of the ornate wooden door which led to the loft, a circular room with wooden flooring and furniture, including a big desk beneath the window on the wall, but looking up I saw there were three skylights from which Henry could watch the stars whilst he was in bed. I didn’t realise that I had been crying until Killian came and brushed them off my cheeks. 

His eyes were a silent prayer, a question he was to afraid to say, and an answer I was too afraid to give, so I did what I did best when words failed me and showed him instead, pulling him towards me by his lapels, his right hand going into my hair whilst his other pressed me closer to him, answering all our questions without saying a word. It was weird but nice to held with both of his hands, although I could tell from the way his eyes were lit up brighter than the sun I knew he enjoyed it. It did make me wonder what else he could do with two hands better, because the guy was pretty handy….

I was pulled out of my sultry thoughts from a cry from the baby monitor which Killian had placed on his hip.

“Well I was hoping to show you the rest of the house before that happened but…. *sigh* Once more into the breach?” 

“Once more” I replied, all my fear washing away like dirt in a rain storm. We could do this, and we would find a way to get everyone back to normal.


	14. the siren curse

**Emma Swan**

 

Neal’s cries had disrupted what was going to be a very good moment with Killian, and in the end it had been for no other reason than he wanted to be picked up. The older man was ever surprising me, for this time he deliberately sung a lullaby for my brother in the other language with me in the room, remembering that I wanted him to sing for me, and I had never heard anything so beautiful.

 

It was like listening to a sunrise, gentle and warm, each note brighter and more hopeful- but when Killian looked up to me in the middle of his song, I could have sworn that his eyes were glowing in the colours of the sunrise, oranges, reds and yellows looked to surround his pupil. I gasped when I realised that it wasn’t my imagination, and I wondered if that the siren curse had in fact transferred onto his latin voice, only it affected younger people instead of adults. Once he finished I brought it to his attention.

 

“My eyes changed colour whilst I was singing?”

“Yeah… It was like nothing I have ever seen before… it was like you had all the colours of the sun in your eyes. Have you ever noticed it before? Like have the kid versions of my parents or Regina not said anything about it? Because they have to have noticed it. There is no way that anyone who has seen you sing hasn’t noticed it… unless it only happens under certain circumstances?”

“I’m not sure… I didn’t know that even happened. It would make sense that my curse managed to effect the last thing I thought I could do. If it is affecting me in that way I should stop before anyone else gets hurt because of me.” placing baby Neal back in his crib, he quickly and quietly left the room, heading downstairs and out of the back door, and from the window I could see him walk down the small pier that was by the house. I debated going after him but I knew he wouldn’t have left if he didn’t need to be alone. 

 

I brushed a stray hair from Henry’s forehead, thinking of how much he looked like Neal despite his age, but then I remembered how alike he had looked to Killian when they had been curled up together on the couch when they were ill. It made me sad at times that my son looked like the father he would never know, but knowing that he also looked like his other father figure in his life made me a little happier about the situation. I thought about what the fairies had said after they had all been cursed, that there was a possibility that they might remember all that had happened. 

 

I wondered what my parents and Regina would say once they were normal, would they have found it weird? Or would they have found it okay seeing as it was better for their younger selves that they were looked after… the thought of what Regina would say reminded me of how I found her and Killian at Granny’s… She had seemed distraught, crying into his shoulder whilst he asked me to get the others ready to go. I noticed it had been ten minutes and Killian was still sitting at the end of the dock, his legs hanging over the edge into the mysterious fathoms below. I pulled my jacket back on and around me as I walked towards him, and it felt like something inside me was clicking together, a puzzle piece which had been left abandoned because I had no idea how it fitted, but here it was. It was me realising that with the help of the man I loved I could look after the kids we had been landed with… and our own once we had them. I had only realised in the past few days that I wanted kids with the man, but I had been so scared that I couldn’t do it… but now I knew that I could do it as long as I had him.

 

His eyes were unfocused on the horizon, his soul over thinking everything and probably regretting using his singing voice if he thought that it might have been dangerous to the children, and I knew he was deep in thought because he didn’t even notice me when I sat down beside him.

“You don’t have to stop you know?” he turned towards me, a confused but hopeful look lit up in his eyes, searching my own for an answer to some question he was thinking of. “Singing I mean… It’s been helping them stay calm and safe whilst they’ve been cursed, none of them have been hurt because of it… in fact I think it’s been stopping them all from having panic attacks over the situation, me included in that. So maybe you managed to change your own curse to make it so you could help people after all” He looked down into his hands, a sad smile gracing his features, not truly believing what I had told him. 

“But you saw my eyes change colour- that’s a side effect of the curse Love, even if the colours weren’t quite right....”

“What do you mean the colours weren’t right” I interrupted him, forcing us both to turn towards each other, an idea forming in my mind

“You said my eyes turned into the colours of fire and sunset when a siren curse makes your eyes go blue and green like the sea, just what a siren’s eye looks like. What are you thinking Emma because everything I am thinking you are thinking is not good”

“We need to talk to the fairies about this, come on” I tried to pull him to his feet but stayed stubbornly on the pier.

“Why the bloody hell do we have to talk to them about it? It’s not like they can break it! And why do we even have to inform them that I am cursed?” he was firing a question a minute whilst he got up and followed me when I walked away towards the house.

“Because they may have a way to make it safe for you to sing normally- considering that you have no magic and managed it for the lullabies I would say they could definitely help.”

“I may not agree with you but I will acquiesce to your demands” he said while bowing down low, an ongoing joke between us since he had found out that my mother wanted me to use my title as Princess in town- of course it only usually happened when we were both drunk and desperately trying to forget about everything that was going on with whatever crisis we had had.

 

I took his hand once we got back into the house, quickly calling Belle and asking her if she could watch the children whilst we went to go and see the fairies (she said she would drag Will with her) and then went on the look out for the queens of darkness to try and see if we could figure out what they were up to (and seeing as we knew that they were trying to turn my heart dark Killian felt he didn’t want to leave me to face them alone. 

 

I knew he was hesitant about telling the fairies about his own curse when they were trying to break the one on my parents, Regina and Henry, but he was also nervous because of what Gold made him do to them, and I could understand his hesitancy. But we needed to do this- it was time that someone freed him from his own cage, just as he had worked to free the fairies.

 

**Killian Jones**

 

I decided to go along with Emma’s plan despite the fact I felt it unnecessary- I could just stop singing and it would never be a problem again, but no, Emma wanted to see if the fairies could help seeing as she thought that I had already started to break the curse by myself. I knew her philosophy would be proven incorrect however I knew that she wouldn’t stop until she got the answers that she wanted, even if it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

 

When we arrived at the convent, she practically dragged me inside, not giving me a moment to even speak before she was telling Blue and a couple other fairies on what was happening, and before I knew it they were wrangling me into a small shed outside the main building and placing a sound barrier on the room so no-one else could get caught in case the curse was still dangerous.

“How long have you been cursed?” a small red headed fairy to Blue’s left asked, a pad in her hand ready to jot down every I said and everything that was about to happen.

“Since I was 23. I had been in the navy when it happened” she nodded and continued writing, a question on her tongue when Blue cut in.

“What did you do to anger someone so much that they would curse you like this at that time” now that was a question I had always asked myself- for I had never known. All I had known was I had been singing on deck whilst cleaning whilst we were docked at port and my brother had been getting supplies- when a woman had appeared on deck, somewhere in her mid-fifties and wearing dark grey clothing. The next thing I remembered was waking up in the infirmary being told I had nearly been suffocated to death and that I may have been cursed- of course I later discovered it was the siren curse and I couldn’t sing without someone getting badly hurt or injured. I told the fairies all of this and they all quickly gathered together into a huddle, leaving Emma and I out and apart from each other. Occasionally they would look over between the two of us before continuing to conspire and theorise, but finally, they stopped.

 

“When did you discover that you could still sing in your native tongue without hurting people?”

“Must have been thirty years since I had landed in Neverland- Bae had long since gone with the lost boys and the shadow dropped a boy into the water by my ship, but instead of going in the direction of Pan he just hovered over the boy, watching us. It was a very young lad, maybe six at best, and when he wouldn’t sleep I sang to him and it was the first time that nobody was hurt” I was lost in my thoughts so I didn’t hear what the fairies or Emma said next, remembering the small lad who had once graced my ship. Pan had taken him once he discovered he was there, unknowing that his shadow had brought another soul to Neverland for someone else to keep.

 

I was brought back by Emma nudging me, and I was worried as to how long I had tuned out for- but once they repeated what they had said before I was glad I wasn’t listening. They wanted me to sing. And it couldn’t be a lullaby. Shit.

 

“We just need to see that the curse has changed on all aspects- it should have done if you can still sing a lullaby and have no effects on others”

“I didn’t say it had no effects we said it drew the children closer and calmed them down which could still be dangerous”

“There is no way that anyone outside this room can hear us so no-one can get hurt” the smallest fairy reasoned, nodding to her companions and the room around us. “Not to mention we can’t get hurt if we get closer to you”

“Common misconception Love but that is not how the siren curse works. It pulls you close, there is nothing wrong with that- it’s what it makes you do next that the problem lies. The act of singing will make you hurt or even kill yourself with whatever it can find in the surroundings, and if it can’t find something it can pick up, it gets vicious and kills others in the perimeter. So do not judge me when I do not believe that this is a very safe exercise to be doing”

“You will not have a choice in that matter pirate” Blue said as she froze everyone in the room, Emma reaching forward, watching as the fairy threw some magic powder over me “I need to see how well this curse works, and the best part is, everyone will blame you for what has happened here, and all conceptions of you being remotely heroic for freeing us will be lost. Enjoy the Underworld Captain.”


	15. The return

**Killian Jones**

 

Despite the fact that Blue had frozen me in place I could feel the tremors of fear racking through my body, allowing myself to feel the fear of someone using my curse to hurt others, looking from side to side to evaluate any means of which I could protect myself and others around me, and spying a spade just behind me to my right I saw an opportunity. I could knock Blue out with it once she unfroze me to make me sing. Should have been easy. Easy had the dark fairy in question not seen my thought process and gotten rid of my only option of stopping her, if only temporarily.

 

“None of that is allowed Pirate. I want to watch your face as they all come closer and closer and kill each other. Now let’s get rid of this shall we?” she waved her hands and I was free; at least partially, for my legs were still frozen in place.

“I won’t do it and you can’t make me you evil fae- if you have looked even at least for a second into this curse you would know that the victim cannot be forced to sing, no matter what spell you use” I yelled as she pulled down the sound barrier that was protecting the outside world from my voice.

“Yes, no spell indeed can do it. However it says nothing about if you command them with their hearts instead” 

 

The air rushed out of my lungs as she reached into my chest and tugged on the beating organ as Rumpelstiltskin had done not so long beforehand, and the world went blurry. I watched the world grey out, voices and shouts become naught more than murmurs as I fell to the floor- letting the darkness take me in its arms.

 

**Emma Swan**

 

It took less than a second after the head fairy had frozen me in place that I decided I wanted to kill her, slowly and painfully for the sheer terror that she had placed in Killian’s eyes, and I saw why he was so scared of others knowing about his curse. For yes, some people like the two lesser fairies wanted to help and find a way to free him, but then there were others who wanted to torture him with it, kill those he loved and was friends with just as Blue was doing now. 

 

I wanted nothing more than to kill her, but I couldn’t even move, stuck in place as I had in the clock tower nearly nine weeks ago. I was just contemplating both the evil fairies next move (while praying to god that she didn’t crush the heart that she had just torn from his chest) and my own when the door flung open, bringing with it Tinkerbelle, Will Scarlett, multiple dwarves and a very irate Granny carrying a crossbow. Blue turned quickly shock being replaced with anger in less than the blink of an eye. She quickly waved her hand, leaving nothing but a cloud of dark blue smoke and an unconscious pirate on the floor. 

 

As I rushed forward to where Killian lay, hearing nothing but rushing blood in my ears and the guilt beating in my heart. I had made him come here today thinking we could get him free of his curse and instead he ended up losing his heart and possibly all trust in me (or people in general with magic). I only noticed Tinkerbelle trying to get me to notice her when she was shaking my shoulder, looking between me and the unconscious man whose head was currently resting in my lap. When she asked me what had happened I couldn’t stop the dam of emotions from pouring out as I explained what had happened in the hour we had been out of contact for. I heard a scream cry out as Killian’s body was moved out of the shed, and onto a stretcher to be taken to the hospital, dimly recognising that it was my own voice that had made the painful sound.

 

I was afraid for what could happen next, for both the lives of the town and for Killian’s sanity; he had been off for a month before he was somewhat normal after Gold’s stunt. After hearing Killian explain what would happen to those who heard his cursed voice made me realise why he had been so afraid and ashamed when I had told him about his singing- and now Blue was going to use his powers to kill half the town and make everyone hate him as much as she did (although the reason was not his fault).

 

We had just arrived at the hospital when Leroy came running in, and I was more than  little tempted to either turn him to stone or steal his voice before he could yell about something or other.

“SAVIOUR HE’S BACK!!” I was confused by his statement, but when he finished his cry, my blood went cold as I realised what was happening. Gold had made an appearance and was going to Belle. Going to where she was currently babysitting Henry and the others. Couldn’t my life just be not crap for one single day? Apparently not.

 

**Belle**

 

Emma and Killian had called me early in the afternoon saying that they needed to get to the church to see the fairies ASAP but needed me to stay with the children, thanking me quickly before running out the door as I arrived (Emma was running, Killian was just being dragged along for the ride)- and thankfully I would have some time to think of what to do with them seeing as they were all asleep in various places around the house. 

 

At least they were all asleep until a shrill cry came from upstairs, and on running up I saw that the nursery door was open, and Henry was sitting bolt upright crying his eyes out and screaming at the top of his lungs, and Neal wasn’t too far behind him, and soon enough all the children around the house were soon crying, each begging to go home, or to see their parents, or to see Emma and Killian. It had been a stressful half an hour when everything suddenly went quiet, the children still shook with their sobs and cries but no sound was emanating from them- it was then I saw him. A shadow in the window watching the proceedings going on in the house, staring at me and Neal, his grin turning sly- he was more like Killian’s crocodile that she had heard him speak of than the man she had married.

 

In a puff of red smoke he appeared inside the house

 

“Hello Dearie” he said, breaking the silence, and all the children quickly came behind me, scared of the man in front of them. He looked agitated and annoyed by them, and with a wave of his hand they disappeared, and I could hear banging on the cellar door- one which had never ever been locked before. For the first time in my life I was afraid of the man before me. A beast who I thought was once a man. I tried backing away but he was right there, trapping me in the corner furthest from the cellar. He wasn’t touching me yet he wouldn’t let me move or look anywhere else. 

 

“What are you doing Rumple” Though the ‘here’ was unspoken, I knew that he had heard it.

“Why, is it so wrong that I wish to talk to my wife without anyone interfering us?” He began leaning forward as though to kiss me, and I wanted nothing more than for Killian to burst in and stop him, protect me as he had done before in the six weeks of peace when Rumple was gone.

“Get off of her you creep!” I heard Emma call out through the silence, and in a second he was gone, leaving Emma and I in the space. “Where are the children!” the blonde said as she looked around the room, spinning on the spot to see if any of them were still where she had left them, I looked towards the cellar door, before spinning round to look for a key.

 

“How did you get here so quickly? I didn’t know he was here until a few moments ago”

“Leroy. The dwarf saw him coming towards the house and met me at the hospital. Speaking of which I need to get back there as soon as possible so get in the car. I’m bringing you and them with me and not letting any of them out of my sight until I know what your demon of a husband is planning.” Emma waved her hand, unlocking the door to reach the children inside. Each ran forward towards her and engulfing her in a big hug, finally allowing me to lead them outside, all glancing towards where my husband had stood. My mind was spinning with what had just happened, with Rumple’s reappearance I was scared at what might happen, but something else was clawing at me, something Emma had said.  _ Leroy met me at the hospital.  _

 

I prayed that whatever had happened had been done by my husband, but I was too afraid to ask because Emma looked like she was about to snap but fortunately the kids were oblivious to her expression.

 

Once we pulled up at the hospital she practically jumped from the car, taking Henry and Neal with them, running through the doors through the lobby to whoever had been brought in. I just hoped that my fears were not true.

 

**Emma Swan**

 

I was angry at both Gold and Blue for what they had done, but I knew that anger wouldn’t help the children be less scared, wouldn’t Killian wake up after Blue did something to his heart.

“Mama? Papa?” Henry said quietly as we stood outside Killian’s hospital room, the nurses and doctors rushing around in the room to stabilize their patient and figure out what had caused it in the first place.

“It’s alright kid, I’m sure Papa will be okay, but he’ll need us here, Okay Kid?” it felt wrong to say that when I didn’t know whether he would be, and that’s when I realised that this is what normal people would say to their children if one of their relatives were in the hospital. The thought that this in a bad way was almost normal make me pull the toddler and baby closer to me.

 

When Belle finally arrived with the other children, she had the sense to stay quiet while we watched the doctors and nurses taking an unconscious Killian’s blood while also running other tests to see if they could do anything. Tinkerbelle and Will along with other members of Storybrooke were all sat in the waiting room to see how he was doing, a stark contrast to the last time he was in a hospital bed. Regina, Snow and David looked like they were close to tears from seeing Killian unmoving in the hospital bed, like when he was ill, only this situation was much worse because there were eight nurses and doctors surrounding him- and despite the fact that the younger versions of my family had grown up in the Enchanted Forest, they still understood that if there was a doctor, it meant it was bad.

 

It was an hour later when the doctor finally came out, Whale having rushed off earlier for an emergency patient that had been brought into the ER. The doctor called himself Dr Strange and said the unconsciousness had been brought around from the stress his body had undergone the past few days as well as from Blue taking his heart. He explained that the mixture of magic and stress had knocked him out and he should be awake soon. The children were beginning to get scared again and I wished that Killian was awake to sing to them again or even just to tell them a story, because whilst they could relax slightly with me, but it was better when Killian did it. 

 

Just as Dr Strange had said, Killian awoke an hour later, and was surprised to see all of the children asleep on top of him whilst I sat on a chair with Neal to the side of him. His blue eyes were clouded with shame and fear, and when I asked him why, I really wished that I hadn’t asked.

 

“Emma, if she uses my heart to command me to sing, everyone could die and I don’t want that. I need to ask you get me into an Induced coma so that she can’t make me hurt anyone. I know you’re about to argue with me Emma and please, just don’t. It is my fault any of this is happening, and it is my curse which is causing all these problems. I know that it will be hard for you but I need to get some pen and paper. I need to write down the instructions on who should awake me before Blue realises that I am awake and tries to stop me stopping her. Please Emma.” His eyes were pleading, but I knew that there would be no arguing about it. He was right about if he was in a coma she couldn’t make him do as she asked, for even though she could get him to move the curse would not work. I let my walls down and the emotions tumble out, the tears streaming silently down my face, for while I knew he was doing this to keep me alive, I wanted to be selfish to keep him here with me to help look after everything and stay as my rock. But I knew deep down, I needed to let him go and do this if anyone was to survive.


	16. The letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long- I am in the middle of exams at the minute so writing has taken a bit of a backseat at the minute so this and BNS are being updated very slowly. although chapter 10 on that story is almost done

**Emma Swan**

 

A day and a burned sheet of instructions later and Killian was under the sedative, the doctors understanding in the situation and who to look out for, if not specific sentences. Killian had written down the instructions so that Blue wouldn’t be able to awake him, even if she impersonated me to do so.

 

He had written that only an adult David Nolan would be allowed to ask them to remove the sedative, which meant I would have to sort out my parents and Blue before I was allowed to talk to him again. The children were sleeping quietly in all their beds at the house, all except Henry who was curled up with me, his little fists grappling to my shirt as though if he let go I would disappear. Before the doctors had placed Killian under his sedative, he requested that he was allowed to see the children again, and he sung them a lullaby which I had not heard before, and when I asked him about it he had said it was meant to keep them calm and relaxed until they were returned to their natural states. After that they would be on their own and would be free to wake him up.

 

And so far his plan had worked. Whilst all the younger versions of my family were sad that Killian was having to stay in the hospital, they stayed calm and were asleep in their beds, allowing me to have a few moments to myself just to think over the situation. Blue had Killian’s heart and was planning to use it to kill half of Storybrooke and make everyone who survived hate him and follow her, my family and magic tutor were all kept under their curse so they couldn’t provide me with back up or encouragement or even tell me when I was doing something stupid. And now neither was Killian because he wanted to keep everyone safe from something Blue wouldn’t have even known about had I had not forced him to go to the nunnery to see them, foolishly thinking that they would help him be free.

 

I didn’t notice the knock on the door, or people walking in until I saw the bottle of whiskey being dangled in front of my face by Will Scarlett, who was holding a very old looking envelope, covered in Killian’s cursive writing. 

“I ‘eard what ‘appened. I’m sorry. And you’re not the only one who wants the bastard to wake up and explain hisself.” he handed me the bottle, quickly grabbing two glasses from the cupboards from before settling beside me on the sofa. He made quick work of opening the bottle and forcing a glass into my hand, a silent offer of understanding- making me wonder what that envelope was and why he wanted Killian to explain himself. I knew why Killian had done what he had done- so what was it that he needed explaining?

“What happened between the two of you? You always seemed to hate him from the moment he stepped foot in Storybrooke” I asked, taking a long drink of the spirit, enjoying the smooth burn of alcohol as it ran down my throat.

“I had grown up thinking he was this terrible man who had to be killed on sight for a reason I never knew, and that carried me through till I was an adult. Then when he came here I hated his guts but felt like I was constantly being drawn towards him- something I didn’t understand until today.” he looked down at the envelope, caressing its edges, a soft smile coming over his features which was something I had never seen before.

“What is in that envelope Will…. What did he leave you?” It was beginning to dawn on me that this was the first time that I had ever spoken to Will without a reason (whether it be because of the children or from him being arrested), and he had sought me out himself for whatever was lying inside the pages he was holding.

“He left me a potion. A back up which his mate said was to be given to me should he die or be in a place which he could no longer help and protect me. I guess they thought him being in the hospital was good enough reason for me to get this. It was how I found out about him.” I encouraged him to go on, intrigued as to what the potion was for. “It was a memory potion from a spell from when I was little. He… he had found my Dad and I, he said it was Regina who directed him to us. I… I can’t really say the rest but I would like you to read it. You knew him best in this time and I think you would benefit from reading it too.” He passed me the envelope, patting my shoulder as he left, but I was too occupied with the papers I was holding, wanting to read this history between Will and Killian.

 

The paper was thick and well worn, the opening edge was thin enough it could easily tear away from the rest of the envelope. There were many papers inside, so I pulled them all out, revealing nearly seven pages, varying from hand written scripts to official looking documents. I decided to read them in the order that they had been numbered (of course Killian would number a letter so that it would read correctly).

 

**_To Will,_ **

 

**_I hope that by the time you receive this letter we will have met again, and perhaps even talked. You will not know me by my name, but by my more colourful moniker; Captain Hook. But know that my real name is Killian, Killian Jones, and I wish for you to call me that should we ever meet properly. The only reason that you have received this letter is because I can no longer keep the promise I once made to you, that I would keep you safe no matter the cost or consequences._ **

 

**_You must wonder why I write to you as though I know you when you have no recollection of ever meeting me face to face, so I beg of you to drink the potion attached so that you may remember what I did, and why you ended up with Bysara rather than with me. Do you remember now? I was there that night to carry you away, and while you cried for our father, I knew that if I didn’t take you away before sunrise you would have met a much worse fate than just being an orphan. You would have met the same fate as my older brother and I, you would have been a slave._ **

 

**_I know now that you remember you will not understand, because you father would have always seemed loving, however the next enclosed page is what I gathered from your house, this document is proof of the sale of your life to slavery, and collection at dawn on the day of the blood sun. The day on which I found you and took you away to my ship for safety. You were so small but were so excited to be on a ship, sailing the ever blue as you called it. I remember the way you cried for our father those nights during the storms, and I had to try and keep the ship fro wrecking with you clinging to my leg, my heart torn between the small brother who I had discovered or the ship which carried the ghosts of my family past._ **

 

**_You are probably wondering why I always called you Will instead of Liam, and why your name now is Scarlett instead of Jones. I never called you Liam because that was the name of our older brother, a man who lived and died heroically, and yet our father named you after him, supposedly as a reminder of what he had done to us and yet he was going to do it again. I figured I would give you a name similar to your own which was free from bad memories, so I named you after another hero I know; William James Scarlett. We fought together in multiple wars together on the front lines, he was a medic… and my closest friend for many years. If I find a way to introduce the two of you some day I will._ **

 

The next part of his written letter was done on newer paper, something which I realised Killian must have taken from the Sheriff station when we weren’t looking, and though the tears were already going down my face, I realised that this next part would be more painful. Because I knew what was coming- it was everything that had happened since he had been in Storybrooke.

 

**_I once wrote you these notes for in case I never got to meet you again, but it seems that the fates were in my favour for a change and brought me back to you. You have grown well, it seems like the only noticeable thing that you have gotten from our father in Adulthood is his eyes, and perhaps his anger. I see pain in your eyes which I wish was not there- but I know that if I had taken you in there would be no light at all, for there would be no life either. You would have been killed by those who chase me for our fathers crimes, or sometimes for my own crimes. But it seems like you have turned out like me; good until you find a reason to go against all the rules. For me it was my brothers passing, and Milah’s too, but for you, I can see now it is the separation from your love that has caused this._ **

 

**_I must admit this town you all reside in is very nice, and so is at least some of the populace- I have already met your delightful Sheriff, Miss Swan. I will avenge my love and destroy the man who will kill you if he knew we were related. Though I will admit that Gold is fairly apt for a name for the bastard who has taken so much from me, and who forced me to put you into hiding without any memories of the time we were allowed together. Had it not been for him things would have turned out very differently. You could have travelled the world and never had the pain I know I inflicted, even if it was for your own well being._ **

 

**_You will have noticed by now the pouch attached to the memory potion was something I found since I have been in this strange land without magic inside the crocodile's shop- it is a magic bean; it will take you to wherever or whoever you wish to be with- and I wish for you to use it to get to wherever your love is, but it is your choice._ **

 

**_May you find happiness in your future soon, and keep yourself safe now that I cannot do that for you._ **

 

**_Killian Jones._ **

 

I had gone through all the pages twice before I noticed the time, hearing Neal cry upstairs and the clock was into the early hours. Prying myself from the sofa I cleared the tears from my cheeks and climbing the stairs I saw that it was only Henry and Neal who were awake.

“What is it Kid? You hungry?” I asked my crying brother, bouncing him up and down in an attempt to try and calm him down, but sighed when he only started getting louder. Looking over my shoulder I saw that Henry had already fallen back asleep, hopefully still under the effects of whatever Killian had sung to them earlier. 

“You sure have a big mouth on you Kid, but I would like to be able to hear what I’m thinking instead of your incessant screaming.” he simply wailed louder until I brought his bottle to him, then he was eating so fast that the bottle was gone practically in an instant. Thankfully he burped pretty quickly too meaning he just fell asleep on my shoulder before I could even get to the stairwell.

 

Seeing as all the children were asleep I chose to join them and headed towards Killian and I’s bedroom, the large bed seeming to be huge because of a missing pirate. A missing pirate who had written to someone who hated him in the eventuality that he would not be there to look after him anymore, that he had failed his job at being an older brother when in reality he was only getting started. I knew Will still had some of the documents along with the bean and the potion bottle, which made me wonder why Killian had chosen to keep that bean a secret from everyone, but he also explained that too even if he didn’t know it was truth he had gone with his gut. All the questions that had arisen from the letter eventually made me fall asleep, waking up only to silence in the house. 

 

I ran from room to room, trying to find my family, but once I got downstairs I noticed a letter from the hospital on the table along with a note with my name on it.

_ Emma- You were completely out of it so Will and I have taken the children to the library. Merry men have the station- enjoy a day off for a change! You are only allowed to come and get them once you have been to granny’s to get food. She wants to make sure you are eating and that you are alright after the past couple of days.  _

 

_ See you soon! - Belle _

 

Putting down the note, I glanced towards the clock on the wall, only then noticing that it was getting close to 11. I had slept for just under 8 hours. And the kids were probably either hating me for neglecting them this morning, and then I noticed that a book had been left on the coffee table beside the sofa, walking over I discovered that it was the Storybook which Killian and I had hidden, the one that was his own story (which I was included in more than I was my own parents story). Flicking through the pages, I saw the younger version of Killian playing with his brother, sea fights and adventures, all coming back to me as I recalled the night we had spent reading through the pages. It wasn’t till I got towards the end of the book did I realise that there were now blank pages at the end of the book, about six or seven new pages which were blank. Perhaps his story was still being written- which led to the question; what was it going to have in it? Would it be the whole fiasco with my family being cursed by Maleficent (who hadn’t been seen since I had returned with Lily) or perhaps what Blue had done to his heart and about his siren curse.

 

Shaking my head I pulled out of the trance I had fallen into, quickly running upstairs towards the bathroom to have a shower to prepare to go to Granny’s and then to the library. It was only as I had left the bathroom that I had realised that since I had returned with Lily I hadn’t done any work in the Sheriff station or trying to find Gold and Cruella seeing as they were still at large with the author who had been released and apparently spotted by the Merry men in the forest and had been approached by Gold. I was still concerned on how the author had come to be in Storybrooke seeing as August had revealed to me yesterday when I had seen him at the hospital that the author had previously been in the book which the sorcerer and his apprentice had locked him inside of to keep him from messing with the storyline anymore. 

 

I figured that if I went to Granny’s I could also ask its namesake about what had happened around town and whether or not she had heard anything which could have been useful to me. Walking out of the house towards my car I grasped the letters Will had shown to me and let me read so that I could take them back to him whilst I was picking up the children. Flicking the ignition switch I spotted something in the backseat in my rear view mirror- it was a small note which certainly hadn’t been dropped by one of the children. I turned off the engine and reached back to get it, discovering that the letter had been left by Maleficent. I was beginning to wish people would just talk to each other rather than just leaving letters and notes- although I could understand that in Killian and Maleficent's case they did not have the benefit of modern technology to help them.

 

**_To Emma,_ **

 

**_I know that you are still looking for a way to reverse the spell I placed on your parents, and now that you understand why I have done that and you have given me back what your parents stole from me the mistake has been corrected. Attached is the potion recipe you will need to restore your parents to the true selves. The only problem with the situation is that because of the Siren curse which your lover has, while it may have kept them calm and stopped them from dying from stress, it may have mixed with my spell rendering this potion useless._ **

 

**_Good Luck- Maleficent._ **

 

Swapping the pages around, I saw that there was indeed a recipe of sorts- and thankfully the sorceress had been kind enough to translate the page into English so I could actually read it. I called the library, thankful when Belle picked up after only a few rings.

 

“Hello Emma! Did you sleep well? You were practically unconscious when we arrived this morning”

“Yeah thanks I’m fine Belle. Just the letter that Killian gave to Will had kept me thinking for a long time. Do you mind looking after the children for the rest of the day, I need to find Tinkerbelle because Maleficent may have dropped in a solution on how to return my parents to their natural selves”

“Green is here with us at the moment, I’ll get her to meet you at the church at one. Currently she is entertaining the children with stories of Killian and her exploring Neverland together and some of the stuff they saw there. Henry doesn’t seem to like the stories however so Will is reading him Alice in Wonderland. Have you been to Granny’s yet?”

“No but I am on the way there now. Please pass on the message to Tinkerbelle because while this should reverse the spell there is a chance it won’t work. I’ll explain why to her once she gets there and we may need someone that she trusts there to help us. I can’t risk Blue coming in and destroying potentially the only way to restore my parents to their natural selves.” 

“I’ll pass on the message. Thank you Emma, we’ll see you later at your house with the children”

“Thanks Belle”

 

I hung up as I walked into the diner, Granny spotting me as pointing towards a space at the counter where she could obviously keep an eye on me and catch up with everything that has gone on since I had last stopped by to talk to her at the diner. I had barely sat down when a pile of Grilled cheese sandwiches and onion rings had been placed in front of me, a friendly smile (or as much of one as the older woman could manage) as she got to the chase and asked me about everything that had happened. 

 

I told her about the mishaps that had occurred since I had left Storybrooke to retrieve Lily and the rest of them from New York and the surrounding area. I told her about Killian’s surprise and wasn’t surprised myself when she said she had been the one in charge of updating the kitchen so that it was usable in the new house as well as helping to look after the children if they couldn’t help with getting the house ready for my imminent return, as well as all the things which had happened since my return to Storybrooke. Granny simply gave me the comforting pat on the shoulder before handing me a bear claw and some hot Chocolate with cinammon as she left to deal with some customers towards the back of the diner seeing as noone else was serving them, leaving me to think and compartmentalise everything that had happened. Simply talking through it with Granny had made me feel better about most things, although others I felt worse about (such as what had happened to Killian). 

 

I finished my meal and said goodbye to Granny before heading to the library to see the children, and was surprised to see them all sitting quietly, reading and colouring away. Will was the first to notice me, and then it was like a mexican wave of everyone else noticing me from one side of the room to the other, with each child then tottering over to me, yelling my name and they collided with my legs. Belle had Neal on her hip who was babbling away happily.

“Did you enjoy lunch with Granny Emma?”

“Yes, thank you Belle. I’m sorry for this morning…”

“It’s fine Emma. The only thing I wasn’t happy with was that Neal was screaming because he was hungry and the others were more than a little irritated because of it.” I grimaced as I could fully imagine what he must have been like, but it shocked me to think that somehow I had slept through it all without even realising it. Thankfully the kids didn’t hate me for it so that was a bonus. 

 

I went around all the children, asking them how their morning and such had been and what they had been doing- Regina and Henry had decided to make a get better soon card for Killian, an idea Belle had no doubt given them the idea for (it didn’t surprise me that they were doing one together; they had both drifted closer to Killian since they had been cursed), and David and Snow were sitting together reading Killian’s storybook (despite the fact Killian had put that book away twice now an out of reach of children it was still magically appearing before them all over again. I vowed just to leave it out and avoid the hassle). They had reached up to the part where Killian was battling with a sea monster on the prow of the Jolly Roger, the picture of him fighting said beast popping up jovially despite its grim image.

 

Looking around the room I knew I would have to leave soon to get on with finding Blue and Gold and stopping them before they did something stupid (like try and kill Killian whilst he was still in hospital). That reminded me that I wanted to go and see Killian before I started up some more research. 

 

I told Belle and the children that I was going to go and try and find the bad man after I had been to see Killian and double check that Blue hadn’t turned up at the hospital. I had just started up the bug when my phone rang with an unknown number. I picked it up warily, worried for who might be on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Miss Swan, This is Nurse Hopps at the hospital. I think Blue has just arrived disguised as you; she was demanding that we wake up Mr Jones despite the fact you know his conditions. Dr Whale is keeping her busy at the minute but you have to hurry before she tries anything else” 


	17. Awoken

**Emma Swan**

 

I hurried to the hospital, not stopping at the red lights or car horns that I passed, only focusing on getting to the hospital before Blue could do anything substantial, and it seemed like I was only there a second before she did so, pulling out the heart of one of the doctors and commanding him to awaken Killian.

 

I didn’t realise what I had done until I heard the shot, and watched as Blue fell, cradling her abdomen from where I had shot her. I conjured one of the magic cuffs from the house and slammed it on to the fairies wrist before returning the heart of the doctor. I looked around the room to see what damage had been done, almost falling into an out of body trance as I watched the nurses pull the dark fairy onto a stretcher and into the ER. I dimly recognised Dr Whale coming up to me, with a familiar but not placeable doctor behind him.

 

“Miss Swan, I am glad you could make it so quickly and stopped the situation from escalating further than it needed to” the blonde doctor looked to the blood splattered wall where Blue had been just moments ago before turning back to me “Fortunately she didn’t actually make the command to wake Mr Jones up so he is still stable and blissfully unaware of what is going on. Oh and I meant to introduce you to the doctor who has been looking after Mr Jones since he was placed under his coma- This is Dr Birch. Dr Birch this is Miss Swan”.

Dr Birch reached for my hand, to shake it, and I was surprised to find the skin was as calloused as Killian’s, I was about to comment on it when he explained that he had been a part of Killian’s crew for a very long time, and his brothers before him as the on board physician. He had been monitoring Killian’s condition and had become his doctor instead of doctor Whale on the argument that he had known more about his patients medical and psychological history than his current doctors and so should be his doctor in his time in need. He walked me to the room which Killian had been moved to when they realised that Blue was there in my place, and his still form greeted me, a constant mixture of noises as a reminder that while he was alive he was not here with me.

 

I only just noticed that Dr Birch had chosen to leave me alone with Killian for a while and for that I was grateful- because it finally allowed me to let out all the emotions that I had been keeping in for the past couple of days, and for once I allowed the tears to flow freely down my face, not caring of who might see.

 

There was an overwhelming sadness from not having him there, not feeling his natural warmth or his voice reminding me that I just had to believe or that I had forgotten to do something small. 

 

The guilt from forcing him into this situation with Blue bubbled over like a cauldron might, reminding me that I could never deserve someone as brilliant as him, someone who could read me so well and look after others with a heart twice the size of any other, his love stronger and deeper than the ocean he once sailed on. 

 

“Come back to me” I whispered into the bedding, looking up letting my body follow my eyes till I was stood right beside Killian’s head, to give him a kiss goodbye before I went to try and fix the curse which was on my family and was now stopping me from being with the man I loved. 

 

In hindsight I should have expected it, but as my lips gently pressed against Killian’s comatose form I felt the familiar rush of magic which I had felt when I broke the first curse with Henry. Instinctively I pulled back hoping that Killian would come back to me in that instant just as Henry had, and how it had worked for my parents, but I quickly remembered that he was this way through science and choice, not through a curse. It was then that I dimly registered that there was a chance that my parents, Henry and Regina might al be back to their normal selves now.

 

I thanked the doctors and nurses before running to the car and practically flying from the hospital to the house Killian had made for us to see if Belle and Will had taken them there yet. Jumping out of the car I spotted no life on the dock, which was unusual but I chose not to concentrate on it and instead focused on my family. I left the car parked outside the house and ran on to main street, not even bothering to contain my joy when I saw Henry running towards me from the library. After I collided again with my son, I felt the arms of my parents soon surround us too, and over all their shoulders I could see Regina and Robin reuniting finally.

 

“Mom” Henry said quietly as he tried to mold himself into my frame, and I couldn’t help but pull his head in closer, enjoying the embrace of finally having my son back.

“Emma, where’s guyliner? Isn’t he usually with you when you break these curses?” Regina called, and then the final part of the puzzle slotted into place. 

“Wait you don’t remember? Do any of you remember anything from the month or so?” Looking around I saw my parents shake their head before concentrating on the child who my mother was cradling close to her chest, and Regina too was shaking her head, holding Robin’s hand tightly- but Henry nodded.

“You and Killian looked after us while we were cursed but something happened a couple of days ago and he’s in the hospital” 

“I am so glad you remember at least something Henry- speaking of which David I need to borrow you for a while” I didn’t wait to grab my dad’s arm and drag him toward my car, silently cursing that I had left it outside the house a block away 

“Why do you need me exactly Emma? Not that I’m not glad to be helping you, but as you rightly pointed out we were cursed and I don’t know what’s going on, so how am I supposed to be of any help to you?”

“In a precaution for what Blue was trying to do Killian had himself placed into an induced coma and only you are allowed to wake him up if you say a specific phrase to his doctor- who just for the record is not Whale”

“There are a lot of things in that which I am going to ask you about later but for now just tell me what it is I need to say to wake him up as it were”

 

“From light comes darkness, and from darkness light. That is what you need to say. Don’t ask why.” If someone asked me what had happened in between getting my parents back and having the love of my life back in my arms I couldn’t tell you much- mostly because all thoughts flew from my mind as soon as I head Killian laugh after the sedative had worn off (in that time I had talked to Henry and debriefed all the now adults about what had happened and jokingly said that they all owed Killian and money for all the food they went through as well as looking after them. Regina laughed whilst Snow and David looked a little more uncertain- for they knew all too well that I wasn’t really joking about it.) 

 

It was close to 10 at night by the time Henry, Killian and I made our way back to the house which to at least Killian and I had become home. Killian had his arm around Henry’s shoulders, talking about what had happened during the curse - and as it turned out Henry did in fact remember all of it, up to and including Killian speaking in latin to him and spending time together when they were both sick.

 

“It was really weird, because I knew you were my Mom, and I knew that I could trust Killian too, although I did know the story of Captain Hook so I wasn’t afraid. I remember how you would take me into the sheriff station Mom with Neal and make me colour or make me nap in the cells” Killian chuckled quietly, a sound I knew would reverberate in his chest so you felt it if you were as close to him as Henry was. We had just entered the house when Henry’s face became serious, and he turned towards Killian who had gone into the lounge area so I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, although in the mirror the was in the lounge I could see Killian’s face become confused, a flash of hurt before the face he made when was being reassuring. I went back to making myself a cup of hot chocolate to help me get to sleep when I felt the delicious burn of scruff bury itself into my neck and his arms coming around my waist, his wooden hand making nonsense patterns on my stomach. 

 

“What did Henry need to say that I wasn’t allowed to hear?”

“He wanted to say sorry for putting me in a position which his younger self didn’t understand” I tried to ask what that was but Killian beat me to it. “He wanted to say sorry for calling me dad” my face dropped as Killian revealed Henry’s confession, and I understood why his face had fallen and why he had been hurt by Henry’s words so much.

“What happened after that” I said as I turned around in his arms so that I was facing him and holding him in my arms

“I explained that I was overjoyed when he called me ‘dad’, although I could understand why he would be uncomfortable with it, seeing as his own father only died a few months ago. So I told him that him calling me that was fine, and that I was honoured that he saw me as a father figure and so I would always be there if he needed me. I also said that if he wasn’t comfortable calling me that I would understand why although I would love it if he did. We hugged it out and he has now gone upstairs to see the room which we decked out for his older self and get ready for bed” I tucked myself into his chest so I didn’t have to face all the emotions which were threatening to bubble over, he was such a good father figure for Henry and was so good to him (much better than Neal could have ever been)and yet he didn’t even have to try. It all came naturally to him even if he was uncomfortable with it. Although I knew that he was getting frustrated with not having a heart again so I put my hand on his heart and kissed it in promise that we would find it again.

 

I turned back around and used my magic to finish making the cup of hot chocolate behind me before gesturing to Killian that we should go to bed. As I curled myself into his bigger form, I felt like I was finally coming home- and I knew I never wanted to give it up.

 

**Killian Jones**

 

Being in a coma had been a strange experience, but nothing was as strange as waking up to no heart and Swan’s golden halo of hair sprawled out across my chest. Across the room I could see Henry on his phone and his grandparents just outside in the hall, all back to the ages which they should be. I sagged a breathe of relief, and the movement woke up Emma, and I swore her eyes were more beautiful than ever, filled with love and happiness, something I knew I wanted to see everyday if I could.

 

It wasn’t long till I saw a very familiar face walking through the door, Andrew Birch, the physician who had been on the Jewel of the Realm when Liam and I had washed ashore after our captain and master had the bright idea to try and sail into a storm for something that no-one else had ever been able to retrieve. Something which Liam had when we washed up although I had no idea how he got it. As it happened as soon as I had been placed under the coma he had found out that I was here and I had taken over as my official doctor. He quickly checked us out and sent us home, and Henry was more than happy to tell me about all he remembered about the past month. But there was something on his mind which had been there since I had woken up, and it wasn’t till we got home that he would tell me.

 

“Uhh, Killian, could I just say something? In private?” I nodded towards the living room around the corner from Emma who was in the Kitchen making some hot chocolate to help her get to sleep.  “I wanted to say sorry… for what I said”

“What are you meaning lad? You haven’t said anything bad or wrong to your Mother or to I so you shouldn’t need to apologize”

“But I did. I put you in an uncomfortable position because I called you Dad. Because I was too stupid to see what was going on I got cursed- which did make you ill at one point! And then there was all the other stuff and…” 

“Henry stop! It is not your fault that you got cursed, that was all on maleficent. As for the illness that was a long time coming probably and the stress from looking after your grandparents and their young prince did not help that- but you were not the cause of it, you were perfectly well behaved and you helped keep me sane if I’m honest. As for calling me dad… I was not uncomfortable with it just surprised and honoured that you thought of me in such a way. But know lad, if it makes you uncomfortable now to call me that it is ok- but know that it is also fine to call me that should you want to. But no matter what you decide to call me by I will always be here for you, just as I am your mother, Ok?” the teenager simply looked into my eyes for a brief moment before running into my arms, burying his head into my chest as he had done when he was cursed. I felt like I should be committing this moment to memory, that it wouldn’t happen again, but I suppressed the thought knowing that this could happen again, we just had to get everything back to normal first.

 

After a couple of minutes, Henry pulled back, wiping his eyes before saying he was going to find the room we had made for him, and I watched him go up the stairs but instead made my way to the kitchen so that I could finally just embrace her and try to feel the emotions which had been taken from me. Tucking my head into where her shoulder met her neck, i could feel her reassuring heartbeat, calming my mind from the turmoil it had been in since I had woken up knowing that I could be a danger to others. While Emma had said that it was just a matter of finding my heart and putting it back in my chest I was not so sure because whilst the damned fae did not have my heart there was still a possibility that the crocodile might have it so I was scared but knew that Emma would need me by her side for that fight. I told her what Henry had said and was comforted when she just allowed me to bury my face into her shoulder, and was surprised when she did the same to my chest. We eventually pulled apart so that we could go and get ready for bed, because even though I had just slept for over 2 days I still tired in a different sense, so I led the two of us upstairs, saying a quick goodnight to Henry before heading into our room.

 

We were both quick to climb in, and not long after we curled up into each other, Emma using my shoulder and chest as her pillow and my head on top of hers, but I was desperate to feel again, the hollow feeling in my chest making me feel empty and alone even though Emma was right here with me. Looking down, I saw that she was already asleep, a contented smile on her face as she continued to get closer to me in her sleep, and I couldn’t help but wish that I could do the same but there were too many thoughts going around my head.

 

Blue was currently in a coma herself to recover as Swan had shot her to protect the doctors and nurses who were protecting me, but she had hidden my heart because as long as she had it hidden somewhere in her possession and not necessarily on her- meaning if the crocodile knew that I was heartless and it was out there for the taking, there was no limit as to what he could make me do.

 

Last time I had managed to break free slightly from his control to grab Swan’s wrist in my own way of telling her something was wrong. But what if he stopped me from doing that this time? Would he make me kill someone? I wouldn’t have put it past him but what would he do with Belle? She was clearly shaken up at the minute and Emma had said her husband had paid her a visit whilst I was in the hospital and was watching over the children.

 

My mind reeled over the what-ifs and could-be’s of the situation and I didn’t realise that Emma had woken up because of it until her hand ran through my hair.

“You should be sleeping but instead you think so hard I can hear it. Mind saving it till the morning where we can talk about it? Coz then we can both get back to sleep”

“Sorry for waking you love, I’ll try again shall I?” Emma simply giggled before settling back down, this time with me on my back and her on top of my chest. After a few minutes of watching her sleep so soundly, I felt myself being pulled into a dreamless sleep. And as I let myself be pulled into that void and as I fell, I let myself say “Goodnight, my love” and gave up the fight of mind, at least for a night.


	18. Heart Beats

**Charming**

 

I wished that the sun could have at least risen before Neal started crying again, signalling for my wife and I to wake up.  Ever since we had woken up on Main street we had been confused as to what had happened to us, except for Henry who seemed to remember what had happened, and Regina had reckoned it might be because he has the heart of the truest believer, but after seeing him when the pirate had woken up in the hospital yesterday, I wanted to say it was something else that had caused him to keep his memory.

 

But then there was the reason he was in the hospital in the first place- Blue- Snow’s own fairy godmother, had stolen his heart and was going to use him as a weapon somehow (Emma wouldn’t say the reason why) and then there was still the risk of Gold attacking since his “Queens of darkness”had all been dealt with, and if Hook’s heart was found by him everyone could be in danger from it.

 

Snow had been more than  a little apprehensive when she had seen Emma with Hook, and that was before he had suggested that the two of them “Go home with Henry and get a good night's rest”. Around that point Snow was looking like she had had a heart attack. She had always been behind Neal getting Emma’s heart, and took it hard when he died- and even though she looked happy about her date with the pirate I knew she was a little hurt about their relationship because she wanted her daughter to get back with the father of her child and find true love like she had, but I knew Emma didn’t love Neal and that Hook made her happy.

 

But of course I couldn’t call him Hook anymore because he now had a moving wooden hand which the other fairies had made for him during the weeks we were cursed. Just thinking about the curse made my head hurt with all the new information, because we had been gone for weeks, or at least us as adults had been, apparently Maleficent had cursed us all into children, leaving Killian and Emma to look after us and Storybrooke which had run them both ragged to the point they had both been ill. I could only imagine what had gone through their minds in the past month, but I unlike Snow was not worried about it. Between the two of them they had appeased Maleficent and brought back her daughter, stopped the town from destroying itself completely, and looked after us. 

 

I spotted Snow holding Neal in the kitchen, gently bobbing him up and down on her hip as she pulled the warm bottle from the microwave. She was humming an unusual song I noticed, or at least I had never heard her sing before, but something about it seemed calming and familiar. Glancing at the clock, I realised that it was nearing quarter to seven- something which seemed unusual because Neal had never slept that late before with us, although now he was over a month older than when we had last seen him, something evident in his size and weight. 

 

“Do you think she will forgive us?” my wife asked, her eyes trained on the baby in her arms, never turning around.

“What do you mean Snow? About Maleficent’s daughter? She said yesterday that she had forgiven us weeks ago! She forgave us and fixed our mistake, so what is troubling you?”

“Everything Charming! Don’t you see? She probably said she forgave us to appease Hook, and is letting herself be dragged into a house she probably doesn’t see as her home to please him and now it’s going to confuse Henry”

“Trust me Grandma, nothing is confusing me” the voice of Henry startled us apart, stirring the feeding Neal. “And you might want to reconsider your thoughts about Mom and Killian’s relationship if you think he forced her into the house and into forgiving you both. That was all her. And possibly me on the side but I didn’t count.”

 

We both wanted to ask what he had meant by that but Henry reminded us that Storybrooke was still turning so they had better hurry to work and the school before they were all late. It seems I was supposed to meet Emma and Killian at the station to help deal with the Gold situation. Why do I feel like this is all one really bad idea?

 

**Emma Swan**

 

Killian had been up half the night, through nightmares, fear or something to do with his heart I had no idea, but I pretended to be asleep as not to make him feel guilty that I was up because of him. But he was more important than sleep at the minute so I promised myself that once this was all over we would both sleep for a week. So once morning arrived I gave up pretending, simply offering Killian if he wanted a coffee before we went to the station to find Gold and to get his heart back. Tinkerbelle had already agreed to help us with a magical solution on how to find his heart and Regina said she wanted to find out about what had happened to her town whilst she had been cursed. And how Robin was now back in Storybrooke instead of in the real world. 

 

We waved goodbye to Henry who was going to his Grandparents to remind them that while they were gone life still carried on and that meant they were both expected to go back to work now that they were back to normal.

 

“Well this is weird”

“What do you mean love? Everything is back to normal now, well at least mostly back to normal. We still have a couple things to do yet”

“It’s just we have spent more than a month looking after child versions of everyone, doing everything ourselves while looking after our family” I hadn’t realised why Killian’s expression had changed into one of wonder till I realised what I had said. I had said “our family”. It had never dawned on me that I had thought of it all that was, but it made sense because I would have called Killian my family anyway, even if I had never said the words to him. He came close and kissed me gently, and even though it was just a kiss I could feel his frustration, his inability to feel because he had no heart. 

“We will find it Killian. And Gold, by tonight it should all be over- and then we can sleep for a week. With breaks for food with Henry at Granny’s. But mostly sleep” Killian chuckled, his whole body reverberating under my hands, whilst his were on my waist holding me close.

“Well that sounds like a plan love, but we really need to get moving now” 

“To Granny’s first?”

“Do we really have any other option?” 

 

I just laughed.

 

Granny as per usual seemed to know exactly when we were coming and had our food ready for us as soon as we walked through the door, only saying “Go get him” before going to take Leroy’s order. Looking to Killian, he just shrugged before taking the bag and gesturing towards the door. I let Killian take the lead, even though we were just heading to the station, I wanted to show him that I trusted him and whatever he had planned today, as he had wrongly trusted me when I took him to the convent about his curse. 

 

David was already there at the station when Killian and I walked in, looking over all the notes I had made with Belle on possible locations which Blue could be hiding and be holding Killian’s heart. We also had all known haunts of Rumpelstiltskin so we could try to track him down before he caused too much mischief or worse, found Killian’s heart.

“See anything interesting Dad?”

“Only everything that is on this table. You guys certainly did a lot while we were cursed. How did you even manage it? I mean you must of had help somewhere along the line, because Henry had mentioned you had both been ill”

“Merry men. Seems like they like Killian and I and were willing to help us while Robin was out of town and have proved to be very useful for searching the forest. They found the area for us while we were in the hospital waking this one up.” I gestured to Killian who used his wooden hand to poke me in the side where he knew I was ticklish. I still wasn’t used to him having another hand again but I had to admit it had its perks. Like not being as cold as the hook was.

 

David simply nodded before grabbing his gun, the magic cuff which I had locked away in his drawer and a pair of handcuffs just in case we did run into Gold.

 

Killian suggested that we take both trucks, and each go from a different angle, and both try to hide the trucks so that if one is seen they will not look for the other. I agreed but I had disagreed on Killian coming with us because if his heart was found and he was part of the team looking Gold could figure out that it was him who was missing the heart, but he was as stubborn as I was and ended up coming anyway. The “area” which the merry men had found was as far north as you could get in Storybrooke, far away from the town and hard to get to, meaning you had to climb and absail down cliffs just to get to it. It was a small cabin, not too different from Gold’s except from its remote location, it had taken the full team of Merry men (*including Robin) to get us there, meaning there were only three of us to check everything for Killian’s heart. He knew it was still being hidden as he felt different if it was picked up, something that he had felt in his coma.

 

**Killian Jones**

 

They had been searching the house for nearly an hour when he felt it. Except whoever had picked it up had started to squeeze. The last thing I saw before I collapsed was Emma running out of the door.

 

**Emma Swan**

 

I hated it all. I had knew Killian shouldn’t have come but he was too stubborn to say no and now he was unconscious on the floor and Gold had his heart in his hand above a cauldron. Not exactly want I wanted to happen when I said I wanted to find his heart.

 

David had spotted Gold as I had watched Killian turn pale and collapse, and I chased the offending party right back to his basement- I don’t even remember leaving the woods so I figured we had both used magic to leave the cabin at the edge of town to come back into the centre. 

 

“Stop right there Gold” I pointed my gun towards him, hoping that he would notice what I had let Killian do to the bullets within it.

“Do you really think a gun will do any damage against me Miss Swan? I pulled the trigger and watched as his hand drew closer around his hand, but before he could crush the beating heart in his heart the squid ink Killian had found and put into my bullets had evidently had exploded in his chest and frozen him in place.

 

That was the moment Regina and my Dad ran in, watching rumpelstiltskin realise that he had been frozen by squid ink. 

“Is he frozen by squid ink?” Regina asked, and while her face was stern I could hear the amazement in her voice and the sparkle in her eyes, taking in ideas from what had just happened.

“Yes and I’ll explain how later but for now can we please get Killian’s heart out of his hand and back to where it belongs? Regina, how can we keep him frozen but get him to release the heart?”

“I can use my magic to keep him still but the best option would be to grab his knife and command him to do so. We will try keeping him in place or creating a singularity around his hand. You hold your hands underneath his ready to catch it.” I did as she said, and was scared when Gold’s hand contracted instead of releasing it, but Regina did something and then the heart dropped, barely beating, a dark red instead of a vibrant glowing colour but it was still there. I quickly thanked her before teleporting back to the cabin to Killian’s side, thankful that he was indeed still alive, although I radioed the merry men to get a stretcher because there was no way in hell that I was going to have Killian try and walk his way back after nearly dying by his heart being crushed over such a long time by Gold. 

 

Pushing the organ back into the chest of it’s owner, I was relieved to hear Killian take a deep breath, even if he didn’t wake back up. I had to wait however for close to fifteen minutes for the merry men to get the stretcher to us with someone to help me get Killian onto it, and even then it was another twenty minutes before Dr Whale was able to examine him. 

 

“He should be fine when he wakes up but you must understand Miss Swan that this is not my area of expertise. Should you have anymore concerns please talk to Regina as she intimately knows about the complications and effects of magically imbued hearts and what happens when pressure is applied. Only one person at a time will be allowed to visit him until he wakes up, and once he does whoever is in here must press this button” He gestured to the button by the door before leaving to complete the rounds he had been on before Killian had been rushed into A&E.

 

Henry came after school, and ran into the the room, stopping short of jumping on the bed with the man who he had called a father, if only for a short time. 

“Will he be okay Mom?” his voice was so much smaller, and it felt like a dagger was being twisted in her stomach, and I was glad that he didn’t pull the teenager move of refusing a hug, and I could feel the tension fall from his shoulders when I revealed that Killian would be fine. I figured that it would be okay to give Henry some time alone to talk to Killian, because even though he was asleep I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been able to hear everything that was going on. 

 

It was close to nine when Killian finally opened his eyes again, and I couldn’t stop the tears of joy from running down my face.

“L..ove? W..What happened?” 

“Gold found your heart and tried to crush it, but he couldn’t get that far as we stopped him- but it did leave a lot of pressure on your heart for a while which made you fall unconscious again. I think that’s more of a side effect of that powder that Blue threw over you though rather than something he did.” I could see that he was struggling to concentrate, trying desperately to stay awake but it was clear that he needed to sleep. I stroked his head and told him to rest, but it was clear that he was trying to refuse. “Go to sleep Killian. I’ll be here in the morning.”

“Want you here now though” he shifted across the bed so that I could climb in next to him, and I was two seconds away from denying him until I saw his pleading puppy eyes and thought I needed some sleep too, so I climbed into bed, and let exhaustion take over.


	19. Peace? Of course not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I know this chapter is seriously overdue but the account with it on was accidentally deleted when it shouldn't have been so took me a while to get it back. Then I had no idea how to finish the story. I know this chapter is short and this story is now over but there will be a sequel if anyone is interested in reading it. 
> 
> Please comment and say what you thought of it!

**Charming**

 

After we had all left the hospital (Killian had been let out because Whale felt that he probably would sleep better in his own bed and sleep was all that he really needed, although that had meant waking the two in the bed, everyone finally allowed exhaustion to take over- which was strange considering during the curse it had felt like we had simply been asleep, which would equate to something over a month’s worth of sleep. Snow and I had volunteered to look after Henry for a night as she wouldn’t let go of the fact that Emma had chosen Killian, and that he hadn’t forced her into anything, and she wanted to use our Grandson to discover what had happened because he was the only one with any of his memories intact. But alas Henry wanted a night with Regina and Robin, leaving Snow, Neal and I in the apartment alone. 

 

It had been an exhausting day, between the search for Killian’s heart and then actually returning it to him after it had been stolen again before finally coming home to a screaming Neal and a Belle who wanted nothing more than to run out of the door away from said screaming child. Thankfully there was no need for a second trip to the hospital as he stopped screaming when Snow came in and wrapped him in his favourite blanket. Despite me wanting the night to be a nice, relaxed and peaceful one I knew that Snow wouldn’t because Emma was in her and the pirates house instead of the room upstairs. 

 

“Don’t you think we should be having a celebration with everyone tonight instead of being at home by ourselves? We ended another crisis, or at least you and Emma did, Hook just acted as a catalyst to make it worse. And we always used to go to Granny’s and have a nice meal together with all our friends and…” 

“Snow just stop. Yes I know we are used to having these grand celebrations after defeating villains but that is because we were royalty. That’s how you do things when you are a royal. And while Emma may be a royal by blood she grew up an orphan. And to be honest she and  **Killian** just wanted to spend some time to themselves this evening and catching up on sleep rather than having to accommodate for everyone else too. And while I know you are still on the fence about the pirate dating our daughter that does not mean that you can just slide off all of the good work he has been doing while we were cursed.  **He** was the one who had been doing all the research with Belle,  **He** was the one who took care of us for most of the time as well as looking after the town when they needed help. And yes, the part with him getting his heart stolen did cause trouble- but as I found out today that had been because  **Emma** had practically forced him to go and see the fairies about a centuries old curse that had been placed on him a long time ago.” Snow looked stunned at my outburst, and a little ashamed of her words towards the pirate. 

 

I knew that she struggled with being in the world without magic sometimes because there wasn’t all the ceremonies and parties that she was raised upon in this world, and while she tried to make do with Granny’s celebrations I knew that Emma hadn’t always enjoyed those parties because as the saviour she was always put in the middle of the spotlight- something she hated from growing up in the system. Something that she had shared with me during the 6 weeks of peace when she and Killian had come over to babysit whilst I surprised Snow with a date. 

 

Looking over to my wife I see that she is instead looking out of the window in the direction of the house Emma and Killian had made their home, and where they were currently (hopefully) fast asleep unaware of the world around them. God knew they needed the sleep after so long of keeping the rest of us safe. But for now it was time to sleep, and then work on getting Snow to see the good in the pirate like everyone else could.

 

**Emma Swan**

 

I woke up when I felt my pillow start to move and laugh beneath me,and quickly remembered that we had gone home after Whale deciding that he would rather have Killian out of the hospital, and whilst he said it was because he thought that he would rest better at home I knew it was really because he didn’t want another attack happening in the hospital. There had been far too many of those recently as it was. 

 

But waking up in our own bed was great because there was no beeping of machines or sterile smell of the hospital to irritate us as soon as we awoke. Looking down I could see Killian was awake, if only just, a soft smile on his face which I couldn’t help but return. 

 

It was all finally over. He had his heart back. My family could take over from protecting the town for a few days. Killian and I could actually just stay inside the house or go on the Jolly Rodger which had been sitting near abandoned because our time had been completely taken up by my family needing us. There were still a few issues that needed to be sorted out between us such as my insistence to get Killian’s curse removed and his want to just stop and be able to enjoy time together as a family.

 

“What is it love? You look like you are having far too many thoughts considering that we finally have a day of peace where we can afford to just stay in bed and relax” 

“Just thinking about how we had prioritised ourselves for the past few weeks.” despite the fact that he was a centuries old pirate, he sometimes resembled a puppy when he would tilt his head in confusion, something that always made me laugh “I was constantly on alert trying to break all the curses I encountered whilst you did that but made sure that we didn’t turn our backs to a certain few who were cursed” 

“Well I doubt a few children would have been able to look after themselves in an unfamiliar world with only other children for guidance and protection. Please tell me that we do not need to leave this house at all today” He grumbled turning his head into the pillow, once again looking so much younger than his even his physical age.

“No, we have no reason to leave the house today other than perhaps getting some takeout at lunch”

“We will make it ourselves we do not need to go out we have everything we need to make multiple meals”

“Fine fine we will stay in” no more than a few minutes later we had both curled back into each other and fallen back asleep.

 

It wasn’t until midday when we finally surfaced, and even then we still felt exhausted so we made up some grilled cheese (OK so Killian was right when he said we could cook them ourselves), and after that we curled up and had a marathon of back to the future, changing over to star wars when Henry came in after school. 

 

The sense of belonging and family was so strong when I looked over at my boys cuddled together on the couch, Henry animatedly describing what was going on on the screen, Killian listening intently whilst stroking my hand with his wooden one (something he couldn’t stop doing since he had a pseudo left hand again). It was nearly night time when my phone went off, and seeing that it was Belle I went up to get it not thinking that it would be anything other than a social call. 

 

“Hey Belle, What’s up?”

“Hello Miss Swan” a very familiar and very unnerving voice called, and my blood drained from my face, drawing Killian’s attention from the living room of our seaside house, a house which Rumpelstiltskin himself had been in not too long ago whilst Killian was in his coma in the hospital. Looking back into the kitchen area, I remembered how Belle had been cornered by her ex-husband, terrified and unable to move practically whilst he had her wedged up into the corner space. Before I knew it Killian was in front of me, listening in to the call, as he listened to his worst enemy planning something that probably meant harm to him and others in the town.

“Now while I know you and my wife have become very friendly over the past few weeks I would like you to overlook the fact that this is her phone and not my own, I just needed to make sure you would pick up, and you would always help a friend now wouldn’t you Miss Swan…”

“You are no friend Rumpelstiltskin. How did you even get out of Regina’s control?”

“She wasn’t very good at hiding my dagger. But it is you that I need… unless you and your pirate come to the well at the edge of town I will cause the Captain’s curse to kill everyone in your near vicinity and, yes I know of a way that I can set off his curse from where I am right now. So your choice Miss Swan. You come and meet me with him or I will make him kill everyone you love.” 

 

The phone went dead but all we could do was stand in silence. Henry had caught the latter end of the conversation and was looking to Killian with an expression that looked similar to horror, but worse was Killian’s look of complete and utter despair, along with fear from being told the very thing that had nearly happened just a few days could happen again. 

 

Killian was the first to break the silence “We have to meet him Emma”

“What? Are you crazy? What’s to say that he won’t just do it if we go along with him anyway Killian”

“What are you all talking about!” Henry shouted, and it was then that we realised that Henry didn’t know of the curse that Killian carried around with him and the danger that it brought. 

“Henry, I am not going to lie to you, I am cursed. And that curse happens to hurt anyone who is around me, and as you may remember it was why I was placed in a coma at the hospital for a few days, to stop this from happening however I don’t have enough time to be put in a coma so our only option is to go and see the crocodile and find out what he wants isn’t it Emma”

“No Killian it is not! There has to be another way!” I could feel the tears running down my face as the feelings of guilt and fear crept back up from when I had seen Blue force Killian into this situation less than a week ago. 

“Emma, Love, we need to do this, if only to retrieve the damned dagger and go before he does anything stupid or particularly evil towards the town. Plus if he does have a way to set off the siren curse we will be far enough away so that you would be able to stop me before anyone else gets hurt” His eyes told me all I needed to know. 

 

We turned to Henry and told him to call Regina, tell her what was going on and not to leave the house unless she was taking him back to her house for protection. We climbed into the bug in silence, only looking to each other when it was time to get out and see what Gold wanted. 

 

**Henry Mills**

 

Mom and Killian hadn’t been gone more than half an hour when it happened, and all I could do was scream.

 

The magical explosion could be heard and felt all across town and I knew that they would have both been at its epicentre, which was over by the well where my Grandpa had asked them both to meet him. All I could do was hope that they were alright and were alive by the time that my grandparents and other Mom got there.


	20. preview of sequel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a small bit of the first chapter for the next story in the verse called "In Cursed Dreams We Sleep"

Emma Swan

One minute Gold was explaining his plan and the next an explosion from the well, something I wanted to say that he had planted there, but from the way he jumped in surprise and screamed ‘no’ I would have said not. The magic bubbled out from the well in a dark grey colour, quickly rising to waist height and moving faster than any of us could run. Before it overtook us all I tried to sense who’s magic it could have been, but it was no use. The new curse was upon us before I could even start to feel who’s it was. 

I glanced over to Killian, who looked like he was trying to reach out to me before the curse hit, and once it did, all I knew was darkness, pain and unconsciousness.

Regina Mills

It had been late evening when Henry unexpectedly called, and once I heard his message I felt my blood ran cold for a reason I couldn’t quite place. Rumpelstiltskin had threatened Emma and Killian that he would use some curse the pirate had to kill everyone in Storybrooke unless they both met him at the well.

Seems like Miss Swan and the pirate had some common sense as they had asked Henry to get me to pick him up and bring him back to my home, and even after that that he should stay indoors until they knew it was safe. I did as Henry had said but when we got to my mansion it happened. A blast from the well and a magical aura swept over the town, and the it was an evil magic I could tell that much. Considering that I was once the evil queen that was saying something. But that wasn’t the only problem, I could hear Henry screaming for the parents who could have been hurt in the blast but nothing I was doing was able to console the screaming teenager in my arms.

“Henry please go inside, I am going to go and find them okay? I am going to bring them home okay?” He finally listened and went into the house, locking the door behind him and watching me leave from the window. 

Climbing into the car I made a mental checklist of what I needed to do. I needed to call the charmings and make sure that they were all right, and to get David to come as my backup seeing as Emma and the Pirate were usually the ones who would to come to sort these situations but it was them who had been involved by Gold. I was nearing the road beside the well but as soon as I was about to call Charming I saw how truck pull onto the road behind me, and thankfully he was already without his wife.

“What happened here Regina?"


End file.
